Its Like Spring Outside

Its been such a great weekend. In Arizona this is the time of year we get to enjoy. Its been in the 70's and it has been perfect. Driving in my car I heard several vintage Elton John songs. Love, love, love Bennie and the Jets. :) I think I need to find a copy of Captain Fantastic somewhere. Great memories of the 70's. I also have been catching up with good friends this weekend. Dont you just love a great meal, hanging out with other creative people? I leave so inspired.

My new studio is working out great and just as I had hoped. Having one large room in the heart of my apartment is so convenient. I am definately getting more done. I wanted to share a couple new projects. I have been making these fabric flowers. They are so easy and alot of fun. I like as many components in my work to be completely handmade as possible. These flowers can be used in so many ways. I am working on a bride doll and I want to make lots of small white ones to embellish her gown. This doll is a work in progress and working out the kinks in the pattern, but its what I love doing the most. I have made a couple more cupcake pillows and since spring has been in the air this week I am starting my Easter pillows. This is my first chocolate Easter Bunny. You never know what I will feel like creating. One morning before work I came up with this pin cushion. I have more things in various stages of done and I will share them later.

I just got home from Trader Joes and found these frozen macaroni and cheese bites. Three different sales clerks told me these were awesome. So thats what I am having for lunch:) I guess I will go and give them a try. Have a great week.

Whats New At Tillies?

I like to post an update from time to time with what is new at Tillies. This is an adorable shop in Mesa. If you are local, you may know about Tillies. Elaine is the shop owner and she has been working really hard on bringing new vendors and gorgeous new things. They have been giving the store a fresh new make over for the new year. In addition to handmade items, you will now find several vintage and antiques vendors. There is one room devoted to Longaberger Baskets for all of you collectors out there. I took a few photos to share with you all. There is so much more! If you live in the Phoenix area and would like to visit, mention you saw this blog post to receive 10 percent off:) Tillies is located in Mesa on the SE corner of Dobson and Guadalupe. The hours are 9:30 to 5:00 Tuesday through Saturday.

Pillow Talk

The holidays were great but I am so glad to get back to creating. Its been peaceful and quiet. It seems like its been a very long time since I have been able to enjoy a normal weekend. I had months of redoing my apartment spaces and then the fast pace of the holidays.

Today I made these two pillows. The rooster pillow was some scraps from some home dec fabric. I rouched some satin ribbon to create a trim to dress it up a little. The next is pink roses. I am working a new pattern for a teddy bear with a rag doll type body. I cant wait to get her done. I am really excited to get this year started with alot of new ideas. I hope you all are having a creative start to the new year.

Its A Brand New Year ~ What Will You Be Doing?

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. For the first time is many years we had family in town and we had so much fun. Christmas really is about family and friends. I know we will have alot of fun memories.

2010 was a year of transition for me. I had been unemployed for 9 months and started my job this year. It was an adjustment going through a long training and learning a new job with many different resposibilities. I am so thankful to have my job and work for such a great company. I also created a new studio and work area that is now completed and I am ready to start creating again.

I usually am not one for alot of New Years Resolutions because the fast become New Years Disalutions. lol But this year I will be making alot of changes, all good, but still scarey. Even good changes can be stressful. First, starting in February my job will be changing and I will be moving to another department along with my 18 co-workers. After going through training for a month last May I am not really looking forward to another month of training, but I must and do so with an optimistic attitude. When training is over I am planning to have hip surgery. My condition has been inoperable but technology has caught up and it looks very good for me. Its not a normal hip replacement, there will be some re-construction involved and the Dr hopes to lengthen my leg as well. I am not going to lie,,,this scares the hell out of me, BUT its time and I am going into this ready. I am looking forward to my physical therapy and plan to take advantage of every minute of it. I want to get into a workout routine that I will do from here on out.

As far as my business goes, I am making some changes. I have so little free time and want to use it doing what I love. That is creating. I have been focusing on how to be a successful business and not being the artist. I have been wanting to get back into doing my mohair teddy bears and art dolls. I will be doing some home dec things I have been wanting to create for awhile now. I am not sure how much time I will devote to social media, news letters and marketing. I just want to create, focus on my blog, website and Little Pink Boutique at Make Mine Pink.

So, its a big goal list for 2011. I have been getting ready for these changes and I am ready to start this new year. What do you have planned for a fresh new year? I hope its something new, fresh and something you have always dreamed of.

I wanted to share the work of my friend Del Gonzales. He is an amazing artist. His talent has no limits. I commissioned this portrait of my Son in Laws dog named Kid. Kid is 14 and very special to our family. His health is not what it used to be and I knew this would be the perfect Christmas gift. He loved it so much. Del captured every bit of Kid:) Let me know if you would ever like to contact Del for a portrait. As for me, I have not been able to get much done over the last couple months but I did get this bracelet and earrings made for my Sister in Laws birthday. Have a great week, its a new beginning, make it great:)

Christmas Presents and Christmas Trees

I have had an incredibly productive Saturday. Its a great feeling:) My Grandson Mikey and I put up my Christmas Tree. Its not very big, but I didnt have any room in my new studio/living room, so its perfect for me. I love getting out my ornaments every year and remembering where I got each one. I have some from when I was a little girl. As I am typing this now I have three cats sleeping under the tree. I have been putting a few extra little touches on my studio. I got the wood trim on the glass display case painted pink and I was given this table from my friend Kathy. I had meant to get a before picture, and of course I forgot. My sister and I painted it pink too. I have been working on my ribbon area too. Last, but not least, I have gotten two early Christmas presents from my daughter April. I got this wire dress form that is soooo cute! We found this trunk at Tillies Attic. Its an American Girl trunk and even had some clothes in it. The drawers are great for more storage.

I hope all of your holiday plans are coming together. I feel a bit overwhelmed myself, but things are coming together slowly. It helps to have the tree up:)

Ornament Swap Party at Make Mine Pink

Hi, its time for our Ornament Swap Party at Make Mine Pink. The names have been exchanged and the ornaments have been made. :) I had two swap partners, Joyce from http://www.cottagecollections.com/ and Sandra. I havent met Sandra yet, but I look forward to meeting her. Its so fun meeting new people online. I wanted to post the photo of the adorable ornament the Joyce sent me. She made this and its just adorable AND pink!

I havent had time to put up my tree yet. I plan on making an afternoon of it on Saturday. I will have a special place front and center for my sweet ornament from Joyce. Visit the other blogs to see all of the sweet handmade ornaments from the swap party participants:) http://www.makeminepink.blogspot.com/

Have a great day, I hope you are getting ready and ahead of scheduele for the upcoming holidays.

Long Post/Long Overdue :)

I have been insanely, crazy busy trying to get my new studio area done. After a couple of unexpected delays and that annoying thing called my job (jk):) I am pretty much done. I never dreamed it would take this long, but I am very happy with the end results. This has been a true test to patience. I have not hardly seen my kids or Grandkids, and I have not seen many of my friends in 3 months time. I have several hundred emails backed up to go through. You get the idea,,, its been a mess.

Now I have some pictures to show you. The new area now called my studio used to be my living room/dining room/kitchen and entry way to my apartment. Its definately not the traditional set up for a home, but its perfect for me. I am happy with being non-traditional. The desk, sewing machine and large room is my work area. What used to be the dining room is now a sitting area with the TV and that flows into my small kitchen. The front entry is an odd little space, but I put my antique stove there and I made a little sitting area. I got the wall picture of the candles and flowers for my birthday, and low and behold in my stash of old linens I found the table cloth and the small pillow. Vintage 80's and looks good as new. It matches the wall stickers perfectly. Woo Hoo, saved more money. I will be honest, I spent less than $100.00 on this makeover. Its all repurposed from other areas of my house. I used my vintage suitcases to store my patterns in. I took what was in my living room and made a pretty bright yellow and citrus colored guest bedroom. So, I hope I am not boring you but here are a few photos. I do have one more space I am working on, and its going to be very fancy, but thats not quite ready so I will post it shortly. I want it to be perfect first. Have a great week! Happy Creating.

The Holiday Shop at Make Mine Pink

I cant believe how long its been since I was able to post. I have been going from the time I get up until I fall into bed at night. Working full time, family obligations and working on my studio re-do took every minute of my days. But its all done now and I love it and know I will be so much more productive. And boy am I ready to get back to the business of creating :)

Its the perfect time to get back into the swing of things. The holidays are here. Can you believe it? I just wanted to let you all know that starting this Friday (the 19th) through Sunday is the Holiday Shop, brought to you by Make Mine Pink. All of the participating boutiques will have lots of adorable Christmas items for sale. There will be alot of sales and some are offering gift wrapping too. Check out this link starting Friday Morning... www.makeminepink.com/holiday

Show and Tell *** Birthday Week :)

Hi. I love October. Its finally cooling down, under 100 anyway, and the mornings and nights are so nice. I love Halloween. To me its the official start to kick off the holiday season. I always seem to have so much fun stuff to do in October. So many of my friends and family have birthdays in October. Including me:) It has been alot of fun. My friends and family are awesome. Its been alot of celebrating for a week and a half now. My BFF Johnsie(can we say that when we are over 50?) took my to my favorite Asian restuarant and gave me this beautiful Brighton bracelet. I love it and it is perfect. My Sister and my other BFF Kathy (I have alot of BFF's, thats the good part about being over 50) took me to a ceramic painting studio and I painted this rose cupcake. The cake on the plate in the background was from a previous trip. We had cupcakes from the Cake Cafe. Kathy gave me an adorable kitty tote bag and this adorable Boyds collectable box that has a tiny bear holding a cupcake. Today my other BFF's Mark and Judy took me to eat at Joes Barbque. (If you are in the phoenix/gilbert area; you have to go there!!) But it was kind of a suprise party. Both of my daughters and my son-in-law, grandkids and my other BFF Pat came too. Great dinner, great company and a great hook up with Joanns gift cards:) So, its been an awesome birthday week.

My studio re-do is coming along. Very slowly, but surely. I will have pictures soon, but I did receive the most awesome gift in the mail from one of my blogging BFF's. Francie saw my post about how my theme for my new studio is a french bakery theme and sent me this adorable cake. You can also visit Francie at http://www.thescentedcottage.com/ . I hope you all have a great week and get to spend time with your BFF's.