Baby gifts, blankets, purses, wristlets, key chains, wallets, reversible pinafores, gadget cases, crayon rolls (great Christmas gifts), Halloween gift pails and more.

Tell your friends and post on your blog if you can! (I will try to give more notice if I decide to do this again.)

Mushy Bug

I must say, I will not believe anything less than divine intervention was involved in my discovery! Since getting Mushy Bug going, I have had less and less time to blog and much less time to visit others' blogs. I believe the last time I visited Portobellopixie was about a year ago. After browsing little girl clothes on etsy last night and seeing lots of great combos from the Ginger Blossom and Farmer's Market fabric collections, I felt the urge to visit Sandi Henderson's blog once again. Sandi is the designer of those prints, of which I have hundreds of yards of up in my little studio!

I literally read, and re-read, then jumped up! Just yesterday (the same day I found the post) she blogged about items some etsy sellers make with her fabrics - and TWO are mine!!! Can I just please brag on and say the FIRST TWO are mine?! AND the first comment is from someone who had already bought one of Her First Mod Purses from me - she botched the Mushy Bug name in her comment but I'm not complaining! I can't get over the fact I would've never known the honor of being recognized by a fabric designer if I hadn't felt the sudden urge to visit Sandi's blog last night.

PLEASE visit this link!  http://portabellopixie.typepad.com/portabellopixie/2009/08/etsy-finds-ala-moi-part-deux.html   

The images on her post are broken right now, but I'm sure she'll fix them. Sandi recognized this Her First Mod Purse and even wrote "only ten bucks!"

And one of my new Spoiled Baby Gift Sets

My discovery came about at 11:30 last night. I was beeming for so long my smile muscles hurt! It was kiling me that it was too late to call anyone and tell them and I didn't want to post about it here yet because the images are broken on her blog (they still are but I just couldn't hold off any longer). Like a kid on Christmas Eve, I barely slept and when I did my dreams were mixed with images of Apple Dot prints and my star on the Hollywood walk of fame!

If you can't quite understand, I'll put it this way - Sandi Henderson is like the President of my fabric world. And since I'm not very political, and fabric is a huge part of my world… well you get my drift… Vote Sandi 2012!                                     

Awkward Family Photos

I'm talking majorly-entertaining funny. What a great idea for a site. Not even too much work to do. People send her their crazy family photos and she posts for everyone to laugh it! Worth checking out.

A couple of my faves…

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2009/08/26/me-and-my-skunk/

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2009/08/23/the-cabbage-patch-diaries/

http://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/2009/08/18/saturday-night-special-everythings-coming-up-roses/

Ayla ran over to inspect - of course. She seemed to have the answer and quickly said, 'Shay, I think it's a pod. An eye-pod.' Needless to say, I was laughing hysterically while Ayla was asking me over and over, 'What, Mom? What is an eye-pod anyway?'

I explained that an iPod is a little gadget that has headphones and plays music, which neither her Mommy or Daddy have ever had the desire to purchase. I can just see my kids being more 'with it' than us in the next ten years, while we turn into the technilogically impared old folks I now see my parents as.

You can fit at least a few diapers inside, as well as a travel size wipes case and the strap fits easily over the wrist. I really like the idea of keeping it in the car and grabbing just the diaper wristlet on your way into wherever you're heading and leaving the big diaper bag in the car. They're also great for throwing in the stroller for trips to the park or walks in the mall. I think they're priced great, especially for the quality. I padded them nicely so they're super-soft.

Ashley over at Swoon is working on her new blog about "Swoonworthy products for you, your home, and the babies." It's a nice looking blog and I like her taste. She's got some good products and finds on there and would love a visit/comment from you if you have a second to visit her.

She purchased two diaper wristlets today and is giving away one here. Enter for yourself or to give to a friend for a great Mother's Day gift!

Also, this may seem like a silly, time-wasting task for me since I can be somewhat of a, shall I say, frivolous spender. Again, at least I’m honest. Aside from unnecessary purchases like my zillions of yards of fabric, I also have a top-of-the-line, crap-ola dryer that takes at least two hours to dry one load of laundry but which I continue to avoid replacing. We run the dishwasher sometimes twice a day. I take two, sometimes three when I’m working outside, showers a day, as does Eric. We waste enough food to feed China by not planning well and letting groceries go bad. I just bought a new, cheap-o, 9 foot patio umbrella thinking I was saving us some money instead of buying a more costly one and it broke after two days. The list could go on.

I will try to tell myself using coupons is a little way to make back some our wasted finances. After making this new ‘resolution,’ first thing to do… buy something else! Of course I’m a huge Amy Butler fan and thought this sweet little coupon organizer by Crunchy Cute on etsy would help keep me motivated!

It has 7 pockets and tabs to stay organized. I just love it. Yes, I know I could’ve made this myself, but it’s fun to buy myself a little treat sometimes.

Or two.

It’s a bit too small for all the coupons I already have, so I’m going to use the little one for stores like CVS, Joann’s and restaurants and stuff. A few minutes ago, I bought one a little bigger (the Deco Rose print on the right) with 13 pockets from Crunchy Cute which I’ll use for just the grocery store.

Cathy seems like a sweet lady. She’s got a couple of verses on her shop announcement which are great reminders to not let money rule our universe:

Ecclesiastes 5:10
Those who love money will never have enough.
How meaningless to think that wealth brings true happiness.

Proverbs 16:3
Commit your works to the Lord and your plans will be established.

One is: Buy One Jack Daniel’s Entree, Get One Free

The other: Buy One Lunch, Get One Free

They’re both on the same document, so you’ll get both, but hurry they expire April 30th!

Somehow, somewhere along the line, I totally lost control of my time management. Somethings I liked to do were replaced with some more things I had to do, without me even realizing it. Aside from Hell’s Kitchen and The Amazing Race, which Eric and I watch together, I’ve forced myself to not get involved with any television programming because, time-wise, I can’t afford to want to force myself to sit down infront of the TV at specified times. (No, we don’t have Tivo! Is that even how you spell it? I am not exactly technoligically with-it.)

Anyway, this loss of free time, is not exactly a problem. I’m so happy and thankful that Mushy Bug is doing well on etsy. I’m having a great time with it and have recently begun to at least manage my time well enough that I’m not staying up in my little studio till well after midnight anymore. Hopefully, Christmas time 2009 will bring back those crazy hours, but for now, I’m happy with my etsy biz.

I’ve actually had a lull in sales these past two weeks, and will try to use my extra time to get motivated to blog once again. I’ve been getting comments here and there over the past couple of months, quite a few more subscribers, and my average daily page views has gone up over 100 more than it was before! All while I’ve not written at all. Hmm, maybe you all prefer to visit me when I don’t update?! Kidding. I appreciate all the comments and emails from my regular visitors asking where and how I’ve been. I’ve truly missed reading all the great comments.

There’s so much that’s gone on in the past couple of months that I didn’t get to write about. It’s sad because I like to think of The Stuff I Live For as my journal. I didn’t get to post the great pics of my biggest baby’s 5th birthday

So, I suppose I have lots to say and I should get with it again. I’ve made some good etsy purchases recently and will be posting about them for sure. If I haven’t lost you, thanks for still visiting me! I will be catching up with many of you on your blogs soon…

~Elexis

Her First Mod Purse from Mushy Bug!