New take on an old friend

As is common here in the south, we ended up with big thunderstorms last night. For us that means 2 things 1)Dish Network goes out 2) Little girl gets up. Since I couldn't watch The Office, and Laurel couldn't sleep...I figured we'd head out to the studio and sew. (This means I sew and she cuddles up with a blanket and a movie) Last night's movie-of-choice was Mulan. Thank goodness...I actually think I was turning into Pocohontas. You are what you watch...or something like that.

So, I was up sewing monster teeth...and lots of them. Each one takes 4-5 depending on the size...so when you're making several bags at a time it adds up. It took me nearly the whole movie and all I managed to do was sew monster teeth. That's a lot of teeth, thank goodness you don't have to pay for dental on these puppies.

I decided somewhere along the way I'd try a new monster design, one large eye with an eye lid instead of two eyes. I think it came out well. I don't think he'll replace the original...but we're all about diversity here at Maggie Blue Designs...so I think our mono-occular fellow will fit in just fine.

Poop in Soup

Someone told me that today in relation to the kind of week I've been having...poop in soup. It's funny because he's not the kind of guy that would normally say something so...benign. (ie the 4 letter word of choice wouldn't normally be poop) So the fact that he said it made it even funnier. I need funny right now. The other funny thing I heard this morning was my brother telling me he went out with a Puerto Greekan. (He was Puerto Rican and Greek...get it...my clever bro) So I got two chuckles this morning, despite it being a low-on-chuckles kind of week. Some weeks in life we just have to endure...so endure I will. Honestly, I can't complain. Or at least I shouldn't. Life could be SO MUCH WORSE!! It just seems hard right now. I'm tired, that doesn't help anything. We're trying to buy a house...AND I took my youngest for a strep test yesterday (since big sis had it last week) since he was running a fever and the day ended with having to ride with him via ambulance to the Children's Hospital in Atlanta. In short, he's fine. Honestly I think the pedetrician over reacted. I think the ER doc at Children's thought so too. But, when a doctor says your 15 month old needs to go to the ER and must be taken via ambulance transport...you don't fight. You say ok and pray pray pray that your tiny little man will be ok. I had to call my mom to come pick up big sis at the doctor's office so that I could ride over with the baby. It's funny, he's just graduated to toddler, but lying in my arms with an oxygen mask on he became my baby again. (A VERY strong little baby who fought me tooth and nail about the darn mask!)

And even though I knew the ambulance was coming for us, it didn't prepare me for the six fireman who filed into the tiny little doctors office to get us. I felt like I was in the middle of some reality show. Brian and Travis of the Gwinnett County Fire Department were great. And I got a brief reprieve from the seriousness when one of the guys on the firetruck accidentally let our paperwork fly away in the breeze and had to run all over the place to pick it up.

In short, we're all fine. Everybody is fine. Everybody is home. No worries. But for that brief moment in time all the fears in the world crept into my head and I just stared at my baby with disbelief that he could be so healthy one day and not the next. Of course he's right back to looking healthy today...fickle fickle kids. (Of course now daddy is sick) So far I'm holding strong, though I feel emotionally like a could break into a million pieces. I feel like a had a big swig of that poop soup. (Don't visualize that...)

Spring is HERE

Giveaway Winner and Artisans Challenge

To be fair I printed out the names of the people that signed up for the challenge and put them in a bowl and pulled out the winner. I didn't see another fair way of doing it. I wish I could give everyone a free bag. Ok, no more stalling...

The winner of the giveaway is Cari. She has been contacted. If by chance I never hear from her I will select again. Also, there is a giveaway starting this Friday for the brand new Elephant Tote. (details on the previous posting)

Also, my Piggy Basket was submitted for an Artisans Challenge. If you get a chance click on the link and vote for me!!
http://blockheadradiolive.com/artisanschallenge

Panda vs Elephant

Ok, so this isn't exactly a death match or anything...just a little crafty rumble between two animal totes. In an attempt to grow my business I've decided to start doing some promotions. One such promotion is a giveaway I'm doing later this week on http://www.projectmommyhood.blogspot.com/. I decided to come up with a new design for the giveaway, and since I've been wanting to do some tote bags based on the designs of my Easter baskets, I thought it would be good timing. So, in the wee hours of Saturday morning I took out my sketchpad and picked out the cutest sketch. On paper the cutest sketch (according to me) was the panda bear. So I set out to make it. I could tell from the get-go it wouldn't be my best design ever. It's the little things...the eyes weren't quite right for one. In any case, when it was done it just wasn't up to par. I really didn't feel comfortable about using it in the giveaway. This opinion was backed up my my husband and 3-year old daughter. My husband thought it looked like a cow or a ghost. My daughter just snubbed it and said she didn't like it. I was a little discouraged because I didn't have a lot of time to make up a new design. So I went out to the studio and looked through the canvas colors I had on hand. I had a sort of faded light blue that I bought with no intention of making into anything in particular. It looked like an elephant, and it just so happened I had already sketched out an elephant design. So I started freehand cutting out the ears, trunk and eyes and put it all together. I could tell as it was coming together that it would be good. When a good design comes together I get this silly-giddy-childlike mood about me. (Like a kid on Christmas morning) It's embarrassing really...but I can't help it. I want everyone to see it...I want to show it off. I want people to tell me it's as cute as I think it is. Adults shouldn't need this kind of affirmation...and typically I don't, but I admit...I like to hear that people like my stuff! Some of the comments you guys left about my monster bag were so sweet they brought tears to my eyes. (which isn't good because it totally destroys this tough-guy facade of mine that I like to keep up at work!) Because these designs are straight from my imagination (the good the bad and the ugly) and they represent what I hope will be my future if the business keeps growing the way it is...I can't help but get emotionally involved with each and every new design. When people say it's business, it isn't personal...I don't know what they're talking about, it's all personal to me.

Happy Easter!

After getting all the Easter orders shipped I was happy to just relax a little and spend some quality time with my kids. I hope you guys all got to do the same. Easter was fun...it involved egg wars (raw and boiled...eww) , easter egg dying, egg hunting, cake eating, etc etc. The day before Easter I woke up at 3AM and couldn't go back to sleep. So, I figured I'd head into the studio and get some work done. I had to do a prototype bag for a giveaway later this week (which didn't turn out the way I wanted, but I'll write more on that later). After that I decided to make the kids Easter outfits which I sort of forgot about.

Of course I didn't use a pattern, and the kids were sleeping so I could do any sizing until they woke up. Despite that, I was pleased with the outcome. While not particular "Eastery" their outfits were unique. Laurel's outfit included the skirt, blouse and coordinating headband. While Luke's was just the tie. Boys are harder to sew for. The funny part was Luke's tie was the prototype for a new line I've been planning on doing of letter & name ties....while I thought my font-choice was adorable, everyone else thought it was a number 1, instead of a lower case L. Live and learn

Baskets Baskets Everywhere

Because I've shipped all of my Easter orders, it feels like Easter is over. I haven't done the first Easter-ish thing yet, but it feels like it's all over. (Does a photo shoot of my kids holding Easter Baskets counts as doing something Easter-ish?) Probably not.

There was a slight last minute rush on Easter stuff...good for business...bad for sleep. Did I mention I'm tired? Yep...yep, I think I did. And, in case you didn't know we hit 100 SALES!!! Which means the give-a-way contest is officially closed. If you missed out, not to worry. My plan is start doing giveaways of the new items. I'm hoping to be able to do them once a month. Plus, I'm starting to do giveaways on some popular mommy-blogs, so I'll let you know about them as they come up so you can sign up for those giveaways too. I will announce the giveaway winner in one week.

100th Sale Giveaway

Who knew there would be so may decisions to be made to give away something free. What do I give? Who do I give it to? How do I choose someone? You've commented, you've sent ETSY convos...and the answers are in.

In celebration of the 100th sale on ETSY I will giving away A MONSTER ATE MY tote bag. It can be personalized with a name and made in whatever color you like (within the confines of possible canvas colors) So this can be a pink girl monster, or a bright green or red monster.

I will be giving it away based on comments left on my blog. You need to leave a comment with your email address. If you prefer not leave your email address you can email me directly at maggiebluedesigns@yahoo.com. Just put GIVEAWAY in the subject line (but you still need to leave a comment on the blog!).

Just a note of warning...the bag will not be done until after Easter. I have many orders to fill before then, and it just won't happen. But, we're getting close to the 100th mark, so start leaving comments guys!