Holiday Time is the Time to Get Back in the Swing

My poor Etsy shop and blog are suffering since I started working full time, but I was so happy for a little lull time so I started creating again. Having some time between soccer games, I made the sweet little trinket box you see above.

I've also been inundated with orders for my initial blocks. Made the little set below for a newborn who happens to be a Pittsburgh Steeler fan (we start them early).

I'm now working on a four set order for a woman who wants to give her daughters a special Christmas present -- so happy to be able to create some girly stuff - and she gave me free reign to select colors, etc. So much fun!!! I'll post after Christmas just in case her daughters read my blog (you never know).
Have a great Thanksgiving!

I Knew Her When...

You may or may not remember that my sister, Stacie, creates and sells her own jewelry. She owns Stacie Jewelry on Etsy and sells it at local stores. She is an extremely hard worker and has grown her jewelry-making business since starting with a small beaded necklace about 15 years ago. She creates handcrafted silver bracelets, necklaces, earrings and charms. But, the real news is this…she was recently invited to the American Music Awards gifting suite this weekend! This exciting news was picked up by a DC news station and her local paper.
Here's a spot on the Washington DC morning segment:
http://www.wusa9.com/video/default.aspx?bctid=2852781959001

Here's an article in her local paper:
http://www.fredericknewspost.com/news/economy_and_business/business_topics/retail/article_bab0a3a0-ebfe-5c8c-96d9-33f828d29603.html
She is on her way to Hollywood tomorrow -- both literally and figuratively! So excited for her.

Can you tell that I'm a proud sister? Good luck Stacie…or as they say, "break a leg."

Tailgate Gala

Last night was our school's biggest fundraiser…the gala. This year we went with a tailgating theme and it was huge success. Some amazing moms at the school and Parish staff pulled off this amazing event and had a record turnout.
I was in charge of coming up with the design "vision." With the help of other moms, we came up with some fun ways to create a tailgate theme on a small budget.

We held the silent auction in a large outdoor tent. I made signs and ticket windows for this area, but forgot to take photos (darn). Inside, we created the outside of a stadium:

I used fake brick and a paintable wallpaper border, which I sponged with a watered down gray paint to make it look like concrete.

The letters above the statue took forever to hang. Luckily I had the help of a mathmatically-inclined dad to figure out the spacing.

We hung the team flags as decorations and then auctioned them off. The background (you can hardly see…are crowd scenes. We only had 12 green tablecloths so we needed to get creative. Using duck tape we created yard lines and PVC pipe goal posts.

The white tablecloth centerpieces were turf with footballs on a tee and then a flag "thrown in" for color.