Time To Start Over

Spring has arrived here, finally, although today is a bit chilly and damp, kind of going right through me.

I love days like this for it's coziness, curl up on the couch and watch a good old movie

or to bake a wonderful Gluten Free Banana Choc Chip Walnut Bread

But days like this are not good for Fibromyalgia, not one bit. It was close to 90 degree's yesterday then today

in the 60's and chilly and damp,

bad weather for me.

The Fibro doesn't seem to want to just stay steady, I know I won't get better from it but it's getting worse.

I had to cut back on work, significantly, and I hope to be able to hang on to what I do have and not have to quit completely but time will tell.

So I decided to get back into my sewing. Making my handbags and selling them.

I have four orders right now, so I'm happy, and I hope to be able to have some more.

It'll allow me to work from home, do what I love doing and do it at my pace.

So we'll see what this starting over will do.

I have beautiful fabrics that I'm having customers choose from.

Prices vary from $30.00 to 40.00 depending if using trim and if so what type of trim. The price includes shipping in the USA, out of the country, sorry, I'll have to charge you for the shipping.

To see photos of my bags go to

www.flickr.com/mycasabella

if you like what you see message me here on my blog.

 

Purple and white:

Trim can be added and solid handles as well 

 

Dragonflies and Lady Bugs:

Perfect for that little girl

Hot pink trim and pink handles will make this adorable 

 

Shabby Chic:

Pinks, green's and white.

Handles will be the fabric over the shoulder handle, can add pink or green trim as well 

 

Pink Family:

From top left Brown/Pink Polka dots with matching butterfly fabric

Brown/Pink/Green Polka dot with matching floral print fabric

Pink/Brown and White stripe with matching Floral fabric

Brown/Pink gingham and Toile

Coral and Brown/Coral and Green fabric

I would use dark brown handles either solid or beaded with pretty coordinating trims 

 

Green's:

Two left prints go together, green/pink/dark brown and robin's egg blue

Two right fabrics go together, a tweed green and brown with a cotton duck green, brown and cream fabric

Dark brown handles and coordinating trim will add the finishing touch 

 

Blues:

Two far left go together, blue, cream, dark brown, taupe stripe with the retro flowers fabric

Two far right are blue, dark brown polka dots with the blue and brown toile fabric

Dark brown handles and coordinating trim will be beautiful 

 

Brown:

Two far left, the Vienna Fabric, shows different Vienna scenes

Two far right, brown, pink, cream and green's

Dark brown handles and coordinating trim will finish these off 

 

Pinks and Black:

Two far left go together, black with pink polka dots and pink and black toile of the Eiffel Tower

Black, pink, green and white retro swirl is on its own, makes a lovely full purse

Add black handles and fun trim to the Eiffel tower fabric and black handles to the swirl 

 

Teapot:

The fabric in the middle is the main fabric with either the red or green to coordinate.

Add brown handles or black with trim and it's lovely 

 

Cottage:

Red and cream gingham with red and cream toile.

Add light brown handles and a pretty trim and its complete 

 

Red

Red and cream fabric will make a great one piece purse. 

 

Black and Whites:

So these go like this, the top left gingham goes with the two under it, toile prints.

The chevron print goes with the black with white damask print

The white with black polka dots goes with the white with black print damask

The black with white polka dots goes with the Eiffel Tower print

and the bottom two can either go together or make one bag on it's own.

Add black handles and some fun trim and it's done 

Have a lovely evening!



Herbs de Provence

I've been playing with paints and stamps and it was so much fun!

I got this idea from www.goodideasforyou.com saw it on Pinterest and loved the idea.

I've seen painted Terra cotta pots but I liked how hers turned out.

Now I didn't have the transfer image papers on hand so I thought I'd use stamps, which I have plenty of.

It wasn't easy to stamp them, so it's not perfect, plus perfect wouldn't be real right?

So I started with plain pots

And I had some sample paints that I purchased for our bedroom, although I won't be using those colors for the room, I thought they'd look nice on these pots

I painted the first coat in green, which I watered down a little

Then put one coat on, not too heavy since I like the Terra cotta color as well and wanted it to show through a little

Let them dry then added the cream color on top of that, I watered that paint down a bit more than the green and used a sponge brush then used a paper towel and rubbed off any excess

Loved how it turned out, then had to let that dry before stamping

Not perfect but that's OK with me.

But I learned a critical thing, the stamp ink takes quite awhile to dry and I thought they were dry enough and started to rub a brown paint that I watered down a bit, over the stamped areas and it smudged some of the ink after that was done, I then waited till they were completely dry to them spray seal them

It was so much fun that I think I'm addicted now.

I planted English Thyme and Rosemary and hope I can grow them indoors with no problem.

OK, so my window is pretty full I know, but I love it!

If you'd like the paint color's just post your message and I'll let you know, I forgot to look and it's downstairs and I don't feel like going back down there AGAIN....

 

 



Cake Pedestals into Plant Pedestal

I've been searching for cake stands for some time now, since we moved into this home.

We have this large greenhouse window, I've always wanted one and living in a Community if we replaced any thing on the exterior it had to be of the same style which meant we had to replace the old greenhouse window with a new one.

(I say we had to because it was a very old window and not efficient)

Thankfully we got it for a decent price, about half of what we would of paid, it still was not cheap but I

LOVE

this window and I have lots of plants to show it.

So as I was saying, I was trying to find cake stands so I can use them to put smaller plants on, give some height as well, but I was not going to pay more than $10 for a plate, even went to Marshall's and TJ Maxx, still nothing that was reasonable enough for me.

So I went to Target and saw these

 



Plates were a Dollar each and candlesticks were $4.00 each, so $5.00 per "cake stand".

Pulled out my trusty glue gun and started gluing, and I had to be quick, as soon as the glue hit that candlestick it wanted to harden fast.

They turned out cute, I may find something I like better down the road but for now it does just fine.

Yes I have a lot of plants and I bought two more today,

I purchased herbs to grow indoors over the winter, now I need to figure out where to place them in that window.

Oh well, not a big problem to have.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Yarn, Tassles, Ribbons, Oh My!!! (Plus Giveaway)

First off, I have not forgotten

about the

GIVEAWAY.

I just don't know what happened

to the month of

November!

It went whooshing by like a

freight

train!

So please, if you have not

left me a comment,

added your name

to the

"Following" list

and maybe even posted

the giveaway on

your blog, do so, and I will

draw up names

in December.

I have to give a deadline though,

so December 16th will be it.

Click here for the

NOVEMBER GIVEAWAY

if you leave a comment,

your name goes in once,

if you "follow" as well,

that's twice,

if you post it on your blog

that's three times.

Best wishes!
(By the way, this is my
100th Post, whew)

Now to go onto other great

and exciting things that

I have done

this month.

My dear friend

Valerie and I took a

girls

NYC

trip.

And we saw some eye candy!

We went to

Lion Brand Yarn store

and it was

beautiful!

Here's their Mascot

And the wall of Yarn

The ladies at Lion Brand were so nice

and allowed us to

take pictures of their lovely store

After that we hopped on the Subway

and headed to Union Square

not realizing what was

in store for us when

we came up

from the subway station

UNION SQUARE FARMERS MARKET

and scones the size of a softball

we had to split

a pumpkin scone and was it

delicious!

and there were tent, after

tent, after tent of

crafts, herbs, spices,

teas, handmade items,

baked goods,

things from

other countries, it was overwhelming

and so much fun!

But we were

on our way to this wonderful

place

TINSEL TRADING COMPANY

It was beautiful when we walked

in.

I love the details of the building

inside

The workers in here were also

so helpful and kind,

we spent quite

a bit of time in here,

taking it all in.

Then on our way back to the subway

we were ready to cross

the street and

Valerie looked over and

spotted this

amazing,

colorful,

large,

a crafters paradise

M & J TRIMMING 

Do you see the beautiful

pink tassels?

They had these I think in

every color

out there!

So yes, we had a blast.

I've lived in NYC, born and raised

and have never

been to these

shops.

How sad, I know, I hear you

crafters out there!

But now that I know where they

are at

I will be back!

Hope you enjoyed the tour,

don't forget to go to

my Giveaway Post!

Handmade Handbag..other goodies

So I've been busy, busy, busy,

working in my

craft room, trying to get some

things done.

My dearest friend, Valerie and her

Hubby celebrated

an

anniversary and I wanted to give

her something

special

so I made her this

and here's a close up

But I'll tell you something, I

will

NEVER

sew a satin ribbon on a purse

again!!

It slid here and there, it wanted

to pinch

and

it was getting pretty

FRUSTRATING!

But

it was for my dearest,

best friend

so I did it for her and she

loves it.

I'm glad!

Then I've been altering clipboards

as well

 I made one for my

mom

and then I made another

one,

just because

I really do enjoy making these

and I have

a few more to make.

I enjoy cutting

the paper

and trying to find

paper to compliment it

as well

then adding the

ribbon

to

make it even

more pretty!

Today was a good day!

I met a very sweet

young lady

all

the way

from

Ambert, France.

We spent the day together,

she's a friend

of a

friend

and we got to talking

about so

many things

She had lots

of questions about America

and how

Americans do things here.

We compared

cultures,

which

was fun

and it is amazing

how different

things are.

Let's just

say,

I'm ready to move

to the

countryside

of

France.

I

keep asking my

DH

to see if his company

needs him to

move

to France, or UK, or

how about

just Europe?

Well,

Evidently not!

STINK!!!

But she talked

about the

open markets there

and how they

cook

everything fresh

each day.

Very healthy,

no fast

foods,

she never even heard of

frozen foods

before,

I had to explain that to

her.

The look on her face

said it all,

how

GROSS!!!

LOL

But I did get to go

to a

Mennonite Market today

and

purchased some beautiful

berries,

and a large beautiful Melon

and

the largest

spring onions

And although

it rained most of the day,

we had a nice

time,

I love hearing her speak,

love the french

accent.

And I was able to purchase

fresh produce

right from our

local farmers,

hmmm,

what should I do

with all these

lovely

berries?

Maybe some warm

crepes

for breakfast?

Sounds

good!!

Au Revoir!!