I'm still alive

Christmas really burned out my craftiness. I took on entirely too much. I haven't made anything since the day before Christmas. I've cut up a few things but they're just sitting on my sewing table. I've got some things to share, but no pictures. I just lost all interest. I do want to share what my stepdad made me for Christmas- a gorgeous mahogany wood thread rack and a quilt rack. My mom made me a darling wreath for my sewing room. Once I actually put that room back together I'll post pix! Here's Kaytlin's Christmas dress, I made it. I love the way it turned out. It was a challenge, ruffling all of that fabric... two layers of tulle net, thick taffeta, and the lining.

I had my surgery. You can find me at obesityhelp.com... my user name is kaytiebugs. I'm six days out. I haven't had solid foods in three weeks. I've lost 21 pounds and it's only getting better. I think for now my primary focus needs to be my health, not obsessive crafting and hoarding.

Love,
Amanda

Ebay destash continues

I am still destashing! It is taking a while to get decent pictures taken. The sun goes down earlier now... so the dining room light isn't so great by the time I get to take pictures. Ugh.

I talked to my insurance company today and was quite disappointed to find out that I was MISINFORMED and my actual out of pocket will be $3,500. So I'm either going to have to sell my appendix on ebay or I'm going to have to wait a little while longer. See my other blog for the details on all that drama. I'm going to continue to save like crazy and sell stuff on ebay. Every little bit helps!

To all of my wonderful readers in blog land, please check out my listings. You might not find something you want, but who knows you might! So far I've listed the bulk of the fabric I'm willing to part with at this point as well as all of the patterns I intend to sell. If I get desperate (which probably will happen), I'll be listing more. There's several designer fabrics up now, and I've got one more to list. I just need to re-take pictures of several... some looked just plain terrible!

Here's the link to view my current listings. Their are quite a few now... about 19 and more to come.

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZkaytiebugs*boutique

I really need your help....

I've told you about my secret. Well... I had my portion ($2,000) saved. Thanks to my daughters birthday along with a whole tailspin of other stuff I need to come up with $1,200 FAST! Like hopefully in less than two weeks! It's going to be a challenge.

So what's my recourse? Ebay. I've listed a few things already.... and I'm getting ready to post a HUMONGOUS destash. Like an entire laundry basket of fabric, a big bag of yarn/knitting/crochet destash, zippers, I mean just a ton of stuff. I hate to let it go. I truly do. It took a long time to get a respectable hoard! And my scraps... my precious scraps... they are like little honor badges of completed projects. I'm destashing a T-O-N of scraps. I'm not even done taking pictures of the fabric. There's lots. I'll post pics after I list the items. I really hate to get rid of my scraps *tear*. For those who are curious, the scraps include designers like Amy Butler, Sandi Henderson, Jennifer Paganelli, Anna Maria Horner, Freshcut, Michael Miller, Alexander Henry, I mean the list is endless. Tons of scraps. Lots of BIG pieces, lots of cut squares, and lots of awesome scrappy scraps.

So.... I really need your help. Feel free to bid, spread the word, show some love.

Click the link below to check out my current listings!

http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZkaytiebugs*boutique

Sorry

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've closed my etsy shop for the time being. I'm having surgery in a few weeks (hopefully, maybe 3-4 weeks, not sure exactly when). My life has been completely consumed with researching... and planning Kaytlin's birthday party. I finished the pettiskirt. It looks awesome! It's no Kaiya Eve, but I think it turned out well. I'll post pics soon, I want to finish the little top first so we can have a little modeling session.

I made another test cake for K's party. This one looks pretty crappy but I was more less just trying to figure out a good way to stack the two tiers, and I wanted to practice doing the little stars on wires and getting the stars to stick to the sides. Her real cake will look much better, and will have lots more stars and something else on the top, plus some cute pink and white sparkler candles. The flash gives a funky shadow on the cake from the wires. Sorry about that. Again, I am aware that this is not cute so don't laugh.

For the googlers.... I was told by a Michael's employee (who had taken all of the cake classes) that she didn't think fondant could be dyed, and she didn't know what should be used to do it either. Here's how it's done- I used the little jar looking wilton dyes from the craft section of Michaels. I dabbed a bit onto the fondant (about 4 dabs). I kneaded and kneaded for like 15 minutes. Finally everything was all one color. Voila. So... use the Wilton jars of color and knead until it's all one color. It takes a while, and you may have to add more to achieve the color you want, but it can be done. I made marshmallow fondant, just in case anyone is interested. It's easy (except for the kneading part, which is still pretty easy but messy and a little time consuming) and it tastes SOOO much better than traditional fondant. Click the link above for the recipe. It's a lot cheaper to make than buy pre-made fondant or the stuff to make it.

~Accepted to Lollishops~ :~)

What is Lollishops? According to lollishops.com , "LolliShops is a juried, online selling venue for talented artists, collectors of vintage and art supply vendors. LolliShops will appeal to those who love... Elegant Whimsy, Romantic Inspirations, and Fanciful Creations... artists will enjoy setting up their own, customizable store fronts while LolliShops patrons enjoy feeling like a kid in a Candy Store!"

Why is this so exciting? Because I had to apply, and actually got accepted! When maaany fellow etsians were "rejected" (it sounds so terrible, but the denial email they send is nice). I wasn't sure if my pictures would be good enough, or that my items "fit the bill".

I'm excited!!

You can get more info at:

http://lollishops.com/

http://lollishops.wordpress.com/

See pictures of what's in store!

http://www.flickr.com/groups/lollishops/pool/

So what's in store for Kaytiebugs? Well... being accepted gave me a little bit of a design-boost. It made me feel like my stuff really is good. I'm not trying to act big headed, I promise. It was just a little reassuring. It made me want to put more effort into accomplishing things via Kaytiebugs.

The most beautiful place in Georgia

If you read this all the way to the bottom, I've got a secret to share with you. But first, I'm going to tell you about my weekend.

While Matt was in Panama City scuba diving with his dad, I went to my moms for the weekend. She lives in the North Georiga mountains, the most beautiful place in Georgia. Parts of it seem untainted... everything is small, simple, and easy going. It doesn't take an hour to go 20 miles (and if it does, it's because you had to cross three mountains to get there, not because there was a jacknife tractor trailer and two fender benders in the interstate). People are friendly. Things have a wonderful timeless feel... and everything "old" is embraced with the term "antique". Hence the picture.... see the copper cooking utensils? I told my mom to write in her will that those are MINE! lol

So what did we do all weekend? Well... I worked on those roman shades for my coworker, no fun. This project is much harder than I anticipated. Not to mention the fact that it's HOT! I've constantly got 10 feet of upholstery weight fabric sitting in my lap! It's been quite a challenge, and a learning experience. I am trying to compare it to what quilting would be like... working on such a huge amount of fabric.

We picked tons of tomatoes and peppers. I have so much I don't even know what to do with it!

K went for a ride on Dollar.

I also learned how to make homemade salsa! My mom has a big garden, and all of her family members do too... so they kind of share crop. They all help each other when harvest time comes. We used home grown peppers, tomatoes, and *cough* store bought onions... among other secret family ingredients. I never knew my muscles could actually grow tired from chopping veggies!

I created a flickr set titled 'My Faves'. I just looked at it... and it's like if my life were flashing before my eyes, these would be some of the images that would appear.