Kaelin's Garden

Kaelin and I planted our container garden about a month ago. She is leaning about how seeds turn into plants, so we started everything from seed (besides the tomato and strawberries) so that she could see the whole process. Kaelin gets so excited when she walks up to one of the pots and sees seedlings growing...she says, "Look, look, look mom. They are growing up like me!"

I thought I would post some pictures of the start of our container journey

(I am used to and more comfortable with a traditional garden patch in my yard...but we're in a rental house that didn't have a spot already and I didn't want to put that effort into a rental house).

We've got our

Peas & Carrot

and

Lettuce & Tomato pots

Short and Sweet Carrots

Basil

Cilantro






Flat Leaf Parsley

STRAWBERRIES

I am looking forward to our harvest

and will keep you posted!

My Mom is Joining the 21st Century

I love my mom to death...

but she is not the most

tech-savvy person around.

The other day, she surprised me by

telling me that she bought a Kindle.

My mom is an avid reader, so it makes sense

to have whatever book she wants to read

in the palm of her hand.

I was just taken back by her techie-purchase.

So moving on,

I was skimming through the

Freebies for Crafters blog,

and clicked on the blog of Christina in Vancouver, WA

called The Sometimes Crafter.

She has a ton of free tutorials

and happened to have a tutorial for a Kindle Cover.

Needless to say, I had to make one

for my mom and surprise her with it.

On a little side note...

I had a great score at

Goodwill the other day.

I bought a picnic basket for $1.99.

I spent a little bit of time today

making a new liner for it and sprucing it up some...

Kaelin and I had a great picnic lunch at the park today!!!

A Little Something

So I admit it...I am addicted to blog surfing.

The other day while getting my "fix"

I stumbled on a great blog. The blog's author, Anna,

has alot of great tutorials

(which I am always interested in).

I decided to undertake one of her tutorials

for a Gathered Clutch.

This is what I did in about

2 hours tonight

(I don't think that my next one will take as long).

This is a great little clutch

that is perfect for quick trips out of the house

or if you don't like carrying a big bag.

It is about 5"x8" and has a spot for cards and

two additional pockets inside.

I might just make a few of these for Christmas or birthday gifts!

YAY!

Mother's Day and Marymere Falls

Mother's Day has been good to me. Greg woke up with Kaelin this morning and let me sleep in (I still was awake at 7:00 like normal, but just staying in bed was really nice). I came out to the living room, and Greg was making pancakes (for the first time in his life). They actually turned out really good for a first timer, a little crispy, but yummy still. To top off a great breakfast, I dint' have to lift a finger for the whole day. Greg cleaned the kitchen, switched out the laundry, vacuumed the floors and put the laundry away (my least favorite job of all). Then, all three of us jumped around the living room listening to oldies and having fun.

We spent some time out with nature today too. We drove out past Lake Crescent, to a popular hiking spot called Marymere Falls. We weren't the only ones with this idea, but the weather was nice and who could ask for better company! We came across a lot of big trees (that Kaelin just had to be photo'ed in front of) and even a couple of deer.

We were all in awe of the size of these trees!

We got a couple of good family shots too...

Kaelin was our little adventurer.

She was rock climbing, blazing the trail on her own, and being an explorer.

Here are some more of the pictures that we took...

To put a perfect end to our outing,

there were Forget-Me-Not's everywhere.

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers out there. I know that it is a hard job, but it is the best job in the world!

The Three Girls

So, with Mother's Day coming up this weekend, my sister and I were conspiring to do something crafty for our mom. At Christmas, we had bought our mom a frame that was supposed to hold pictures from a photo shoot of all three girls, my Kaelin and her Haley and Aubrey. But higher powers had other plans, and my sister and her girls couldn't make it home for Christmas and the photo shoot was only done with my Kaelin. Now our mom has an empty picture frame just waiting to be filled with something of the girls'.

Being that we live in Washington and my sister lives in Texas, another photo shoot was definitely out. So my sis and I decided to make fabric silhouettes of the girls to fill our mom's empty picture frame.

I printed their names directly on the fabric strips (I was hoping it would work...and it did - YAY!). The silhouettes were picked out from photos that my sister emailed back and forth and then traced onto some iron-on adhesive. All three of the "girls" and their names are going to go into the 3-floating photo frame and finally fill the empty spaces. Happy Mother's Day Mom!!!

I loved these so much though, that I made a silhouette of Kaelin for me and one of each of my sisters girls for her too. Then I made some for Grandmas and Great Grandmas! Once I figured out how I was going to do these, I was a silhouette making machine!

It's Up and Running

So, I finally took pictures of all of my goodies for my shop on Etsy.com. There are mostly earrings on there for now, but I am making more bags, toys, clothes, shoes, and mobiles this next week. As the weather gets nicer, I find it harder and harder to sew...but if these goodies actually sell, then I guess I have a job to do!!!

These are the two bags that I have made so far...I have some corduroy ones on the table for this week. The bag on the left has a matching changing pad and both bags have 7 pockets.

These little shoes are my favorite though...They are made out of felt that I embroidered. They are so stinkin' cute!!!

I will keep you posted when I add new items to my store!!!

So It Begins...

I guess I will start by introducing myself... I am Elizabeth, but as you get to know me, Beth is what I go by. I am a stay at home mom to a 3 year old little girl, Kaelin (hence the title of the Blog). I love to sew (both by hand and machine), scrapbook, stamp, paint, garden, and cook. Everything I know is self taught and I love to be inspired by the people and things around me. I am always on the lookout for new ways to do traditional crafts as well as great old school projects.

I started out mostly making things that revolved around my daughter. Before she was born, I started out by making baby blankets and crude diaper bags (I have never really liked using patterns). As I developed my technique, my creativity branched out. I started quilting, making baby clothes (dresses and cutesy girl stuff of course), toys, and better diaper bags. The older my daughter gets, the more "creations" I add to my repertoire.

One day, a friend of mine told said, "Gosh Beth, you could totally sell these!" Going off of that (and a little bit of encouragement from my husband) I decided to open my own storefront on Etsy.com. I don't have anything posted on there yet, but I am taking pictures of what I have tomorrow so that I can get to selling. If it sells, great!!! If not, I am sure that I can find a ton of adorable friends who need an original from Kaelin's Closet.

So here I am, fixing to jump off of the cliff and into the world of handmade, crafty, goodness...let's get it on!!!