Baby Ella in her custom onesie!

You may recognize this onesie from a previous post. I gave it to Jess for her baby shower. Now Ella is big enough to wear it! Isn't she adorable!?

New Fabric from Amy Butler!

I am so excited I just got notification that one of my favorite designers, Amy Butler, has released a new line called Love. It's the perfect name because I already LOVE it! Check it out! I will be making stuff with it soon, as soon as I can get my hands on it! If you see anything you can't resist let me know and I can make something for you!

Who wants a free bag?

If you like my stuff and you think your girlfriends would like it too, you love a party and you want some free stuff I have an opportunity for you. Host a purse party for me for all of your girl friends and you could earn some free stuff from me.

It works like a tupperware/Pampered Chef/Candle Light party. Invite a bunch of your girlfriends over and I will bring over my catalogue, sample bags, and fabric. Everyone can custom order a bag that they love and choose their fabrics! I will also bring some inventory incase your guests want to leave with something that day.

For hosting a party you will receive $75 toward a custom bag(s) of your choosing. If your guests order more then you will earn more!

I will then make everything and bring it back to the host house so everyone can pick up their items. What a great excuse to get together with friends and shop and it's perfect this time of year since Christmas is just around the corner (eek!).

Let me know if you are interested in hosting a party, I will even provide invitations for you to send out.

Thanks!

Stephanie

Christmas, Christmas Time is Near....

In the words of the Chipmunks, Christmas time is near and that means Christmas cards! For those of you who don't know I also design cards when I am not sewing. I will be doing Christmas card designs for Christmas this year. If you are bored with the choices you are given at Target and Costco, let me know, I would love to come up with a beautiful design with or without your family photo! The reason why I am mentioning this now is because I need time to design, print and for those of you who love to send out Christmas cards but don't like stuffing or labeling, I can do that for you too!

I charge $30 for designing the card. Printing costs depend on the design and how many are printed. Send me an email with what you are thinking about and we can discuss price.

Here is an example of a birth announcement that I did that could be translated into a holiday card.

Does the internet ever end?

I don't know about you but I can search the internet for hours and hours! There are so many blogs out there I get so caught up going from one blog to the next. I guess you can also blame it on the fact that I get bored easily. I finished all of my current projects and I don't have a wedding, or shower to plan (would someone just get pregnant or engaged already?!) So anyways I love reading the blogs of some of my favorite designers, looking for new fabric, and finding new blogs of people like me doing the things they love!

My other search I am currently on is fabric stores in LA. Jimmy and I are heading West in a couple of weeks and I would love to find fun fabric stores out there, I know I will find some great stuff!

Well I am going to get back to my blog researching while watching America's Next Top Model (one of my guilty pleasures). I'll report back with some of my favorite blogs to get inspired by.

I love Wednesdays!

Tomorrow is Wednesday and it's my favorite day of the week. It's a strange day to love, I know but for this past summer it's been great because it's my day off of work (I work m,t,th,f,sat). My typical Wednesday in summer goes as follows:

8:30am Pilates class at Lifetime

9:30am Poolside at Lifetime for a few hours

Lunch

1:30 off to work on fun projects!

I am sad that tomorrow may be my last Wednesday to worship the sun but it will be nice to have all that time to work on projects since I won't want to leave the house it's going to be so cold! I hear from the farmers almanac that it's going to be, and I quote, 'numbingly cold'.

On my list tomorrow is a computer laptop bag, I can't wait to see what it's going to look like and I know that Stephanie can't wait for it (she just got a new mac and is in love).

I will be sure to post photos once it is finished!

Happy Hump Day!

It's been a busy August!

I can't believe it is already August 23rd! Summer goes by way too fast! Well I am winding down from a really fun weekend, my friend Alli's wedding! I was honored to be her personal attendant, I sometimes wonder if I am asked to do things like these because I am assertive and how do you say not shy? It's almost as if my friends think I am bossy! haha. Either way I had a great time and I am so happy for her and Tony. I know they will have a very happy life!

After I posted my photos of the silk flowers my cousin requested a clutch with a big flower on it, and I think it turned out great! Heather I hope you like it!

This past week I had a request for some baby stuff for a baby shower my friend Allison was going to and here is what I made her!

I love the farm scene, the cows are too cute!

I did this birdie free hand and from what I hear it was a great hit at the shower. I love coming up with new designs and can't wait to come up with more!

Silk Flowers!

I've been working on creating fabric flowers lately and finally found a great fabric that holds its shape, its called Dupioni silk. Alli's wedding is just around the corner and she needed me to make her ring bearers pillows so here is what I came up with.

Since her colors are blue and white the flower worked out perfectly. The blue fabric is from the sash that came with the bridesmaids dresses. The wedding is outside in the middle of August so it is highly unlikely that they will be needing a sash for extra warmth, so it was perfect to use for the pillows and her garter.

Alli has two adorable ring bearers so each of them get a pillow!

My friend Laura is getting married in September and for her bachelorette party I gave her the very first bridal version of my make-up bag. She was very excited when she opened it and it's going to look great on her wedding day!

For more detail I sewed some jewels and pearls to the center.

Baby Ella Birth Announcement!

On June 30th at 4:04 am Ella Mary was introduced into this world.  I was so excited that I got to make her birth announcement.  My friend Ashley is a photographer so I suggested Jess contact her for some professional photos of Ella and they turned out beautiful!  Make sure you check out her blog, she is great at what she does! All of the photos turned out great but this photo caught our eye as perfect for the announcement.  I can't say enough good things about my mac and this is a great example of why.  If you're looking for custom invitations or announcements let me know I would love to make something for you!  Also I plan on concentrating on creating Christmas cards.  Think of the pre done ones you can get at Target but better (or so I hope)!  I'll continue to post what I come up with!

Operation Wedding 2010 the beginning

Everyone is getting married and I have been lucky enough to have been asked to help in the planning.  First my friend Alli is getting married in August (only 3 weeks, ah!).  Her colors are dark blue and light blue and she let me do whatever I wanted (which I love), and this is what I came up with!

The swirls are stamps that I scanned into my computer and played around with until I came up with this layout.

In addition to the main invitation we also created a ceremony, reception and RSVP card.  Here's a great tip to save money on your wedding invitations, use a postcard for your RSVP instead of a card with envelope.  It costs $0.28 in postage versus $0.44 plus you don't have to buy envelopes, if you send out 200 invitations that $32 saved on postage alone!

Here is the back side of the RSVP card and the reception card.  On the back of the RSVP card I created a map so guests could find their way to each venue.

Ooops....

So I must be the worst blogger out there because as you can clearly see I haven't blogged for 2 months!  Sorry about that but it has been a busy summer and I do like to be outside as much as I can while it's so nice out!  But I will give you the long update on what has been happening and what has kept me from updating!

I got a new design for a laptop case, Tricia practically demanded that she get the first one and she hovered over me for 5 hours while I worked on it.  Finally at midnight I told her no more I have to go to bed.  With the next day being easter it was going to be a busy day.  When I was with my family on Sunday Tricia practically wanted to kick me out of the house to go home and finish it for her!  I finished one for her, myself and Tammie and it has been the best for toting around my mac, I love it!   
The next new adventure was creating my first skirt!  I never knew making an A-line skirt could be so simple!  I have made a few for myself for the summer and a couple for friends who just love them.  There is nothing better then getting to throw on a cute skirt and shoes to run out the door for work or errands, have I ever mentioned I don't like to be cold?
On May 17th Allison and I thew our friend Jess a baby shower.  This is her first child so it was extra exciting!  As a main activity with the guests we decorated onesies of all sizes, we used paint, buttons, ribbon, stamps and iron on designs to make 20 onesies.  The new baby is going to have lots of outfits to wear for the next year!
Here is Jess opening up her gift from me.  I made her this great flannel blanket and a red diaper bag (which is sitting in front of her).
Here is a group shot of all the ladies who came to the shower, it was so much fun I can't wait to host my next party.  Someone is going to have to get married or have a baby, get on it people!
On May 31st I thew my second purse party, thanks to all of you who came out for it!  I had great weather and got a great tan sitting outside talking with everyone who came.
Some great friends from high school came out to support me, thanks ladies!
After 2 years of school, Jimmy graduated!  He graduated from ITT tech with a degree in computer networking systems, so he is officially a nerd!  I am so proud of him, he worked so hard, I can't wait to see what he does in the future!
My birthday was in June so the ladies and I went out to Maynards for a fun evening out, it was a great time and it was fun to see everyone!
On June 30th we welcomed Ella Mary into the world!  She is so cute, I can't wait to watch her grow up!  Also she gives me a great opportunity to make more baby stuff!  Oh what fun!

Jimmy and I got away for the 4th of July, we went to both Danbury and Hurley Wisconsin to be with our families at their cabins.  We had a great time and the Vavrichek boys put on a great firework show!

Finally we come to present day.  I have a new product called trans web which allows me to do a form of embroidery on anything!  Here is one example on a onesie that I have for sale.  There is going to be more of this once I have a day off to play around with it.  So check back soon!  Also I have finally started my Etsy shop! Please stop by to check out what I have posted so far.  There will be more posted soon.  One great thing about it is that I can now take credit card as a form of payment through paypal and I will ship anywhere in the United States!  I am still taking custom orders so convo me if you have any ideas!

The summer is still packed with plans, which is great but also makes the summer fly by way too fast!  As a July resolution I am going to post more often, 2 months in between is just too long!  Thanks for all of your support and I hope you enjoy reading my blog!

-Stephanie-

PS I'm hoping to have a new blog design sometime soon, just another addition to my long to do list!

No time for blogging

So I haven't been very good about blogging lately, I've been working on the plethora of projects.  Alli's wedding invitations (pictures to be posted soon), Jess' baby shower, Junior League of St. Paul project, many other small projects in between and of course pursapalooza! 

 I recently remembered saying to myself 'remember when I would make up a project because I was bored?'  Well there is no longer a need to try to create a project they always seem to find me.  A friend said to me last week, 'Do you ever just sit around?' And the answer is rarely.  But I love being busy, for those who know me I have a hard time sitting and just watching TV, don't get me wrong I love TV but I have to be doing something while I am watching (ie my Super Sudoku addiction).  

One of my favorite things to do is plan parties, which I get to do 3 times this month, and upcoming is a graduation party for my lovely boyfriend, Jimmy.  I scared him recently when I told him I was going to clear out the graduation section of Party City, balloons, plates, napkins, cups confetti, all with Congrats Grad 2009 on it as well as a huge cake with his face on it.  He did not find it as amusing as I did.  In reality I am keeping it simple just like Jimmy asked, BBQ, beer and cake, how simpler could it get?  I am really excited to celebrate Jimmy's graduation, he has spent the last 2 years working full time and going to school full time.  He has worked so hard to get his degree I couldn't be prouder.  Congratulations Jimmy!  

Well enough blabbing, I have a very busy month coming up, so there will be posts about everything I have been working on and how it turns out!

Nightmares in busy season

At the moment I have a lot on my plate for spring planning, a baby shower for my friend Jess on May 17th, my purse party on May 31st, and now a graduation party for Jimmy on June 5th.  Each of these are at my parents house, and as I told my mom she could start charging me for renting out her place like a hall :).  So to the nightmare part, I had a dream the other night that it was the day before (or the day of, you know how dreams go) and I realized that I hadn't planned ANYTHING for the party!  I then spent time scrambling around trying to make it a nice shower on such short notice.  It gave me anxiety the next day because I want everyone to have a great time when I have a party.  Well it was great to the realize that I have plenty of time to plan this shower, plus my purse party, plus Jimmy's graduation party.  

Well as a preview of Jess' baby shower here are some photos (Jess if you are reading this you are cheating!  And it will ruin your party so look away:)

For the baby shower invitations I kept it simple.  I used the petal envelope because I thought it was very soft and girly.  It's hard to read but it reads 'First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes baby with the baby carriage'.  I like to tie in a theme from a popular rhyme or song or saying to open up the invitation.

As a cute way to close it up I used a sticker and then stamped a baby's footprint.

For Jess' party we are decorating onsies, so I decided to decorate one early.  The print you are seeing in the background is actually a flannel receiving blanket that I am also giving to Jess at her shower, so I cut out so

me of the shapes from the fabric and sewed it onto the onsie so it all ties in together.  To also prepare for the party I am 'pre-decorating' some onsies with buttons or ribbon so people can create around it it they would like to.  I am also printing out some iron on sayings and pictures so no matter how creative the guests are they will be able to decorate a beautiful onsie.

As another gift for Jess I made her a diaper bag in her favorite color, red!

This bag has a ton of pockets to hold all of the diapers, pacifiers, baby wipes and extra clothes that they could possibly need.  I hope she loves it, she had mentioned that she was having a hard time finding a diaper bag that she really liked.  We will see come May 17th!

Once the shower is over I will make sure to post photos about how it went, and what people come up with for their onsies!

Pursapalooza Spring Edition!

I have a date for my spring purse party!  Sunday May 31st 1pm - 4pm.  I am looking forward to showing some new designs and new fabrics.  Some new items include, skirt samples, baby blankets, diaper bags, more beach bags, computer laptop bags, clutches and more.  Contact me if you would like to come, I will give you the location and my contact information.  I can't wait, and I hope you can come!

Check out my facebook page for more information, pictures and RSVP:

Stephanie's Creation Facebook Page

Pursapalooza Spring Edition

Did I mention I love organization?

This weekend was a fun, organizational fest weekend.  I conned Jimmy into going with me to Ikea and a quick stop over at MOA.  Both places were a total zoo, I'm a little surprised Jimmy survived.  I was disappointed because they didn't have the dresser I wanted in stock.  But what we did get was a great new 2 section hamper, cute new fabric and these great shelves to go above my fabric dresser in the living room.  

My dad is very sweet and came over on Sunday to install them.  Looking back I probably could have installed them myself but it is so much easier to watch him do it, and plus then they come out even!  So after I then cleaned the entire apartment I decorated my new shelves with some of the bags I have finished.  It's great because they give me more storage and they make a great display for my stuff.  It's almost like my own little shop in my living room!

New Recipes

Taking inspiration from my good friends Allison, Jess and Katie I am trying new recipes that I find.  In Family Circle I found recipes for hostess cupcakes and twinkies and things like that so I tried my hand at the cream filled cupcakes and I have to say they turned out pretty well.

Jimmy clearly liked them as he tried the first one.

While I was making cupcakes, Jimmy was trying out a different recipe of spinach pasta.  He modified it in his own special way, we added chicken for some good protein. It was great as usual when Jimmy cooks, he was proud of his dish so I took a picture.

It was a great light dish and I would definitely make it again.

Spring is on its way!

I am so excited that Spring is on its way, soon to be followed by summer, my favorite season!  I took my first run outside last week, it can only get better from here on out.  With spring and summer comes lots of events.  I am throwing my friend a baby shower in May (check back to see all the cool baby stuff I am making for it).  As well there are lots of weddings this summer (which I love).  

In all of this I am trying to plan another purse party spring edition.  I am making it my goal to have it in late May, possibly Sunday the 24th.  Once I set a final date I will be sure to post about it.  For that party I am going to try to have more beach bags, clutches, baby bags/blankets  and anything else you can think of for summer. 

I hope everyone can come!

Thanks!  

Busy Busy Busy

I feel like I have been so busy lately between, work and sewing, trying to keep up with working out as well as trying to sleep!  Blogging just seems to be pushed to the back burner.  So here is an update on some of the MANY projects I have been working on. 

I made a bag out of this red fabric and as soon as my friend Margaret saw it she feel in love!  So she wanted me to make her a clutch for all of the black and white dresses that she wears.

My friend Anne is going to Maui this month and she wanted a beach bag to carry all of her stuff to and from the beach.  Her favorite color is pink so we went to the store and she picked out this floral pattern that she loved and I found this great striped pink fabric to go with it.  This bag literally looks like pepto-bismol exploded all over it and she loves it! She also had me make a matching camera case to go with it since her first all pink one got lost or taken because it was so darn cute!

Last Wednesday was a big day.  I learned how to make simple A-line skirts!  This is the very first one I made, with yours truly as the model.  I can not WAIT for summer!  I am working on making a slew of these so I have a whole new wardrobe!  I never thought it would be so easy to make clothing but now I am figuring it out.

My boss' birthday was in January and for her gift I made her this great shoe bag.  She always carries her shoes to work so that they don't get ruined in the nasty winter weather.  Her favorite color is orange so I pulled together some of the great orange scraps I had and this is how it turned out.  She loved it and is making great use out of it.

Finally I used some of the left over pink fabric from Anne's bag to make a camera case for Tina's sister.  I love how the stripe is so simple.

I have also been helping Niki out repairing nearly ALL of her pants and I am not joking.  I am hemming or re-hemming 6 pairs of her pants, as well as a sweater.  I have never seen so many pants in disrepair!  I think she even has more for me in her closet she hasn't brought to me.   

Besides these projects that I have finished, I cut a bunch of things for other projects on my list and I plan on spending all day Wednesday working on them.  I won't have anything better to do since it will be freezing out!  Hopefully I will be good and blog about them right after I finish them.  

Have a great week!

New Bag for Sale!

I love having a day off, it gives me time to do some sewing in a relaxed setting, usually in my comfy clothes.  Today I pulled out some of my favorite black and white fabric.  I made this great bag with inset handles which makes it fun to carry.  The best news is that this bag isn't spoken for!  I am selling this bag for $75 if you are interested let me know. This has been a popular fabric so it could go fast!  Or I may change my mind an keep it myself! 

Inside is all black with two pockets on one side.

What's Black, White & Red All Over?

I had a request for a large bag that was mostly red with white and black.  It is very hard to find an interesting red print, but I found this great Asian inspired print that works great for a large bag.

I found this red polka dot fabric that works great for a fun interior.  I made lots of pockets so there is plenty of room to hold everything you could possibly carry.

Blue Jeans & Bling

My sister, Tricia, is involved in a volunteer program called The Junior League of St. Paul, which is an organization of women that volunteers around their community.  On February 28th they are throwing their annual event called 'Blue Jeans & Bling' which is a fundraising event to benefit kids.  There will be a silent auction and I decided to contribute one of my bags to hopefully start a bidding war and raise some money for the cause.  

Tricia really likes my bags with the inset handle so I picked this bright and cheery print perfect for spring.

The inside is a navy blue with white polka dot.

Check out the JLSP Blue Jeans & Bling event and come if you can, it's for a great cause, it's going to be a lot of fun and of course I will be there taking part!

Shoe whore meet bag hag

My friend Pat contacted me with a great idea to solve a problem that she, me and I know many women have who live in places like Minnesota.  Carrying a ugly plastic cub bag to bring our cute shoes back and forth to work while we are wearing our snow boots to trudge through the snow.  Pat asked me to make her a bag that was cute and this is what I came up with:

I got new black and white fabric and it was perfect for this job.  Inside the bag is black since we all know shoes get very dirty.  Also inside the bag is a 'sleeve' so you can stick one shoe one one side and one on the other and so they don't scratch or scuff each other.
Finally I made it a drawstring bag so that it is easy to get in and out of as well as you can throw it over your shoulder and have your hands free.  I know that I am always carrying a ton of stuff with me to and from work, especially in the winter.  Let me know if you are interested in a bag like this, winter is far from over and we all know that spring is wet, sloppy and hard on expensive heels!