Proof

Here it is, proof that I shouldn't have another child. This little tomato is the only that has come out of our garden so far. One little, teeny, tiny tomato. This is how neglected the garden is.

The kids left with their grandparents this morning and will be gone for two weeks. I'm moving the garden from the number 4 spot to the number 2 spot (yep, husband gets to be number 1 for a week or so). My first order of business... I'll be declaring war on our slug population! I've got big plans to get those slugs under control so that I can put some more plants out there. All the seedlings that the kids started inside are still inside (probably not going to survive a transplant now). A few weeks back I put three nice looking zucchini starts out... by day two, there was nothing left. The slugs (nasty, vile creatures) ate every last part of the poor things... and they weren't small.

So armed with some copper and a ton of bad beer - those slugs are in for it! I'll update my progress later this week.

Read more...

Mill Creek Festival 2010

This Monday finds me exhausted from a long weekend (and a previous week with an aggravated herniated disk), a little excited as I have two weeks ahead of me where I'll have a break from the kids (they will be visiting their grandparents in California) and a bit sad (it's the first time I'll be away from them).

But, I'm hoping that these couple weeks will help me get caught up on some things that just keep falling off the list of priorities and let me get a little, much needed, R&R.

So, here's the weekend recap. I love the Mill Creek Festival for many reasons. 1 - it's close to home, just a 5-10 minute drive across the freeway. 2 - it's run by some really nice people and they have always add a personal touch... coming by several times a day to make sure everything is okay, taking a picture of you in your booth (which they later send with a thank you) and even sending volunteers around to ask if you need water or anything. And they have a ton of teens available at the end to help you load up. And 3 - we often do very well.

This year wasn't our best year as far as sales... but it also wasn't horrible. There are several things that could have contributed. They moved the festival location this year - although, I don't think this was a factor in our lower sales as there still seemed to be plenty of foot traffic. We were located at the end of the street and there was really no other reason to bring people down our way. Most people turned about three booths from the end to see the Pet Plaza which is a popular feature every year. I believe this was a big reason for the decline in our sales.


But we still had a great time. We had our bag of Reese's Pieces to get us through each day (yum) and we had fun people watching (how cute is that little baby hanging out of that tiny little wagon - can you call that a wagon?).

This was our first double booth... and I loved it! I was able to take two shops and not feel like they were crowded. Thanks to Marlo (IMakeCuteStuff) for letting me borrow her canopy. I wasn't sure how the double booth would work out, so it was nice to not have to invest in another one. Each booth had plenty of room for browsing (people were able to get wheelchairs and strollers into the booth), we had lots of room to display all of our merchandise so that it could be seen and the two shops looked cohesive (in my opinion). It looked professional enough that many people asked if we had a brick and morter store.

NueToMe:

World of Whimm:

In the center of the two booths, we had an area (about 4 ft x 6 ft) for us to store our personal items, take a break and for the kids to hang out in. It was a nice area to have put aside as it also sheltered us from the wind. We had great weather, however, not only was our booth at the end of the street, it was also in the shade. I wore a jacket the entire weekend - and I believe the tempurature was in the mid 70's.

This is my daughter taking it into her own hands to get people into our booth. She decided to stand out in front of the booth and show off the super hero costume. So cute and so sweet.

Later this week, I'll share some of the new features of my display as there are many. Too much for one post (and I'm hungry for breakfast :)). All in all, a good weekend. And even though we had less sales, this festival has proven in the past to give us business several months following it. We handed out many cards and show schedule flyers (I was proactive enough to print up a schedule of the shows we have coming up).

Read more...

Alice in Wonderland

I love Alice in Wonderland... you know, the Disney version. I've done my daughter's birthday party with the theme, and now I've done a baby shower for my cousin. I love it because it lends itself to anything. It's the theme where anything goes.

So, Children's Literature was the true theme of the shower. We had everyone bring their favorite child's book to share with the new baby. I had a million ideas that would be great under this theme... but we decided to narrow it down to one story, Alice in Wonderland.

This shower was held at a hotel, the day after my family reunion... I was not near my house. So I did a limited number of decorations and tried to make my gifts part of the decorations.


I used wrapping paper for the table runner. It was much easier than making one and you get a better variety of patterns than you would in table cloths. And using a table runner keeps you from having to cover the entire table. My friend Kelly (tomatotomato) helped us make three centerpieces which were pots that she painted black and white and we filled them with fake flowers decorated with googley eyes. Our stacked pots were a little unstable by the time they made it to the shower, so I balanced them on some stacked tea cups.


The center, centerpiece was a topsy turvey diaper cake that I made with the help of my mom and Kelly. This also doubled as a gift for the new parents. Each layer consisted of diapers enclosed in black and white checked ribbon and topped with a round "frosting" snuggle blanket. I trimmed each blanket with pompoms. One side is flannel, the other side a soft minky (I want one for myself :)). I made each layer lopsided by putting a bean bag under each tier. One happy face bean bag, one sad face bean bag. The bean bags have plastic pellets that are encased in a cotton bag and double stitched - making it as safe as possible for a baby. The cake is topped with a soft pocket watch rattle (I realized later that I forgot to embroider the numbers on the clock face). I also added a teething ring to keep the rattle balanced on the top. I was pleased with the result and look forward to the next diaper cake I get to design. I find them addictive as they are decorative and useful all at the same time. I love that!



Because we were no where near a house, we kept the food nice and simple. Fruit, a pasta salad and tea size sandwiches. The flowers under the berries are burp rags made by sewing two pieces of flannel together (we made them thin and long - I think 8" x 18" so that they could be twisted into flowers).

We made a yogurt dip for the fruit and it got great reviews. Simple, simple, simple.

Simple Yogurt Fruit Dip

1 - 8 ounce container cool whip (thawed)
1 - small container vanilla yogurt
1 - small container flavored yogurt of your choice

In a mixing bowl, combine cool whip and both small containers of yogurt until smooth (we tried raspberry for one dip and lemon for another. Both were great, the raspberry got the most raves). You can serve it right away or put in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve. This is easily made a day or two ahead of time.

I'm not big on shower games... so we just had a simple activity of having all the guests sign a handmade baby quilt for the baby. The quilt was made with alternating white squares and flowered squares so that guests could write a message to the baby. Because of poor planning, we used sharpies. These work if you are holding the pen straight up and down, but I recommend using fabric paints to avoid bleeding.

Read more...

New Products

These next two weeks are going to be crazy busy... all working up to my favorite show - the Mill Creek Festival. This year I'm going all out and I'll have a double booth giving each of my shops (World of Whimm & NueToMe) their own tent. I'm excited. And I'm a little stressed about having enough merchandise. AND since it's my third year there, I'm feeling like I need to show some new stuff. So I've been busy turning the ideas in my head into reality. I'm pretty excited about the results.

First off... I'll have wings. Not the wings you can find at the store that have a stiff wire inside them and they strap to your back. These ones loop around the neck (with elastic) and around your wrists. These wings have been in the prototype phase for at least a year. I'm excited to have them ready for this show - although there will be a limited quantity.

In addition to the wings, you'll be bale to purchase tails (they can attach to a loop on the bottom of the wing or you can just attach them to a normal belt) and I'll have some headbands with crazy horns, ears, etc. I'm really excited about this new line as it gets me closer to my initial vision for World of Whimm. Various accessories that can be mixed and matched to express a kid's imagination.

And of course, I also had to have a new product for my NueToMe (recycled tshirts) line. I'll have my hooded scarves which I haven't shown at Mill Creek (introduced last holiday season in Seattle), but I will also have a variety of play food items all made from tshirt scraps and fleece scraps. I'm having a great time making them. Some things I only have one of right now, but I hope to have multiples by the time the show comes around. Hamburgers with all the fixings, sandwiches, spaghetti and meatballs, bacon and eggs, pancakes, sushi, salad, veggies (including mushrooms, tomatoes, corn, green beans, potatoes, lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower), fruit (including banana, strawberries, oranges, apples), cookies, pizza and I'm sure there are more that I can't remember off the top of my head.

So if you are local, be sure to come check us out - you won't want to miss it as I'm sure most of this new stuff won't hit the online shop for at least another month! Here's the stuff you need to know!

Mill Creek Festival

@ Mill Creek Boulevard

July 17th & 18th

www.millcreekfestival.com

See you there!

Read more...

Muffin Tin Monday - Independence Day

I have my husband home today, so I feel like I have a little more motivation than most Mondays. So I decided that even though the 4th has past, we'd have a 4th of July themed muffin tin.


Contents: Jelly sandwiches (of course, you can't see it - but there is red strawberry jelly), blueberries (for my son), blue grapes (double for the daughter), string cheese fire crackers and salsa (with a side of tortilla chips).

I hope everyone had a great 4th of July. We had so much fun. We went to a friend's house, BBQ'd did a few sparklers and some firecrackers in the street. It reminded me of my childhood when we used to have block parties - you know, when neighbors used to be nice to each other and watch out for each other's kids. Sadly, we don't live in a neighborhood like this, but it was nice to enjoy a relaxed 4th of July and share a similar experience with my kids.

Read more...