As promised...

As promised here is a photo. The Oh Sweet Sadie! boutique in South Jordan was SO-MUCH-FUN!! The turnout was unbelievable! A success for all. Everyone was chatting, laughing and enjoying the company of friends, family and fellow browsers. It was a {blast} and a great opportunity for me to gain exposure for my baby slings. These and the nursing covers are my main focus. The most popular pattern seems to be the Olive Geisha Fans with Cherry polka dots, since I sold out of that one right away! I also took orders for this pattern:
These are part of a baby gift for Travis' cousin who is expecting any day. There is a baby sling "for baby," a baby doll sling "for aspen" (aka big sister) and matching burpies. Also included in the gift are these:
A nursing cover in a pretty Lacework floral with coordinating burpies! Hopefully these, along with a diaper cake (photo to follow), a gorgeous, custom made Binky clip and a gazillion hair accessories, will help give her a warm welcome into her new family! Two more sling/nursing cover orders to do this week, one for TWINS. Plus I haven't forgotten the "exciting news" to share but no time now! Stay tuned!

Fall Boutique {No, 2}

Another fun weekend of Oh Sweet Sadie! FUN! Want to come see what it's all about? This weekend it is located in South Jordan - DayBreak. Take 10600 South off I-215 and head out west...WAY out west :) LOL! Once you cross Bangerter Highway you will enter DayBreak and take a right on Oquirrh Lake Drive (you'll see the Rainey Homes banners) and your 1st left from there. The TWO homes hosting the boutique are on the first corner you come to - YOU WON'T MISS IT!

This time the model homes are furnished and I was able to use a beautiful armoire in the master bedroom to display my things. It turned out great. I will post a picture tonight once I fill it up this morning. It SHOULD be already filled to the brim with goodies since I set up last night BUT I was running a little low on hooded towels...so last night's midnight oil burning session produced these:

I will have these along with my Halloween treats, reversible baby slings, baby doll slings and some SALE stuff too! Here's to a successful show once again! Hope to see you there :)

Where do the days GO?

I can't believe it's been almost a week since I've posted anything! It's been CRAZY-sauce, as Lauren would say. I've been busy sewing & getting re-stocked for the Oh Sweet Sadie! in South Jordan this Friday & Saturday. Plus there's another big announcement that I will save until after the boutiques are over and things can settle down a bit :)

Here's a photo of a couple sling patterns I've added to my inventory the last couple of nights.
I have both of these in size medium and large.

And here's the fabric I just received to make the rest for the boutique and the "other big news" event:



Saturday after the Oh Sweet Sadie! fun, Lauren & I worked the Real Salt Lake concessions at the U of U! It was the last game for Real at the U. From now on they are at the new stadium in Sandy. Then Sunday we headed over to Body Worlds at the Salt Lake Library. This is Mira and I on the skywalk.
If you are not easily nauseated then it's worth the trip. NOT for the little ones though. Not only are the displays anatomically correct but it's quiet - museum quiet- and tough to keep their little voices down in there! Stay tuned for LOTS more goodies AND the exciting news! And come by the OSS boutique in DayBreak to say HELLO!

Boutique-y Peeky

Come one, come all to Oh Sweet Sadie! in Draper! This home is beautiful and chock FULL of unbelievable delights! Last night during set up here's a {FEW} things I saw: Halloween decor, jewelry, photography, gift wrapping & adorable gift bags ready to use, hand made kids furniture, designer clothing for women, boutique style everything for kids, superhero capes, pin cushions that look like cupcakes, hand made scarves of all varieties (silk, wool, knitted) hair bows GALORE, petticoats & Fun stuff for the little ones, and so on. Every room in this HUGE custom home is carefully planned to pack in the best things for you to enjoy!



(Not sure what caused the blurry photos! Nolan must be at my camera AGAIN!)

While I don't get to bring ALL my goods this time, I have a few things that fit in well. I have the Halloween stuff, lunch/gift bags and hooded towels. Next weekend I will also have baby slings and a few more goodies. The Holiday shows will have EVERYTHING I make (nursing covers, burp cloths, slings, kids sized baby doll slings, tote bags & purses with wallets, diaper bags & changing pads, etc) including my latest addition - designer camera straps! More on that to come. In the meantime, please stop by Oh Sweet Sadie! and DO say hello!

{Day 6} and {Candy Tree}

Today is day 6 of my sourdough starter. I was honestly a little worried about it there for a while. As previously mentioned, I can kill houseplants, even a cactus...let alone a colony of living organisms that need to be fed daily. So, one day I fed the starter without dumping half the contents first. The result was no bubbles, no activity. So, I fed it again 12 hours later (instead of 24 hours) and gave it extra this time. Now we're back in action and I think it's almost done. Today it was bubbly, smells like sourdough now (it was smelling sort of like paint) and even has some fluffy froth! If all goes well it should be complete tomorrow. Without the set back it would've probably been a crusty loaf of bread accompanied by some Brie or Italian food by now :) Recipes to follow soon.
How many times, as a kid, have you dreamt of having a candy tree in your yard where you could pluck from it whichever type of sweet treat you wanted at that moment?
Continuing with the Halloween preparations, we have our own (albeit smaller) version. It includes all of our favorites (the Baby Ruths are for ME!)and the fun part of this is that you could use anything. If you were to give it a a gift you could fill it with all the same thing if the recipient was passionate about one particular kind! This one will most likely grace my table at the Oh Sweet Sadie! boutiques. If all else fails, I can eat it if it's slow - but hopefully it WON'T be :)

Halloween {FUN}

The weekend has come and gone...again....so quickly. More of the same for our family - shopping with Grandma, BBQ (while we still can!), crafting and creative stuff with the kids, walks to the park, Sunday dinner all together. We really need to spend as much time as we can outside, enjoying the perfect 85 degree weather :) The time will change and the days will cool off, ahhhhh Fall is approaching. It's a tremendous time of year here in Utah. When we lived in California, it was nice but the seasonal change in the mountains is something to behold! We always try to take a drive into the canyons to see the beautiful colors and changing leaves. It's absolutely amazing. A feast for the eyes. Experiencing the different seasons is such a treat for the girls & I.

This is a custom acrylic album I did this weekend for someone who liked my classes but wanted something tailored to her specific needs. It's a LOVE themed album in black, white & red. She's going to use all black & white photos and it should be a stunning gift for her someone special.

With Oh Sweet Sadie! this weekend I wanted to include some Halloween goodies for my display. I've already shown a preview of the treat jars but now there are MANY more of them and they are complete with candies! As I mentioned before I was doing a "spin off" of the lunch sacks with a Halloween twist. They're so cute and even the girls helped with the designs :)

Some are the original lunch sack style and others are tote style. These will be great for lunches, gift bags, treat bags on Halloween, anything really. They're sturdy and fun! The black felt is glittered but the photos don't do it justice.

I'm also working on a candy topiary to display on my table to make it more festive. Should have it done later today & I will share a photo! :) I'm really looking forward to a fabulous boutique and seeing what the OTHER 80 VENDORS have! Hope to see you there and please stop by to say hello!

Sourdough starter Day 3

Now we're gettin' somewhere! Bubbly goodness - I can see the bread at the end of the tunnel (quoting Joy the Baker).

I don't think the photo does it justice, but it has pouffed up and is bubbly and slightly frothy. Last night I added 1/2 cup flour & 1/2 cup water to the jar, after dumping out half of the jar contents. Now if I was thinking ahead, I would've taken the half I dumped out & started another jar for a friend! But I'm not that organized. Actually I'm lucky I remembered to feed the thing :)

You can see a layer of yellowish liquid running through the starter. That’s the hooch. I just stirred the starter well before its feeding. When the starter is done, I will be sure to post recipes and ideas for using the sourdough starter. In the meantime, give it a try - the pancakes ALONE will be worth it :)

Treats for the Sweets

Do you realize that HALLOWEEN is just around the corner? YIKES! How did that happen? Blink your eyes too long & it will be Christmas :) I really enjoy Halloween with the caramel apples and costumes and CANDY! The candy is one of my favorite parts, handing it out as well as eating it. Today I decided to make some fun treat jars.


Now comes the fun part...filling them with treats! I will have these, and many more available at Oh Sweet Sadie! the next two weekends. Please see their website for exact dates & locations: www.ohsweetsadie.com
I am also working on some ADORABLE Halloween lunch /treat/gift bags that I will also have at the Fall Boutiques. Photos probably won't be up until after the weekend, but I'm working hard to get everything finished.

My new {pet}

Okay, so I'd like to think I'm a pretty good cook. While I do have issues burning garlic bread (mainly because I forget about it), my meals usually all turn out great. I like to make new things and have the family give their ratings. And baking is even more enjoyable for me. Well, this summer I got on a bread baking kick (along with my homemade yogurt & granola kick!). It's SOOOO much healthier and yummy. I usually do half white flour, half whole wheat flour and add 1/2 cup or so of ground flax. Everyone thinks it's delicious and it's always fresh. Plus you can't get too many Omega 3's these days, right? You are now asking, "What does this have to do with a new pet?"

Behold the Sourdough Starter. I've heard stories of women handing down their starter to their daughters upon getting married. Mothers of large families providing daily fresh bread from one batch of starter over a 25 year span! These things are like pets, you feed them daily until they are done fermenting and then put 'em in the fridge, only needing to feed them every 1 to 3 weeks (or how ever often one remembers - see perfect for me!). And supposedly the only way you can kill these is if you try to ferment it in temps over 100 degrees. Considering I can kill a cactus plant, this is also a HUGE plus!

Anyone want to play along? It SUPER simple - blend one cup of flour and one cup of warm water and pour it into a container. DONE. A wide mouth pickle jar works great but anything will do - just no metal. You leave it sit (between 70-80 degrees) and feed it every 24 hours ("feed" means dump 1/2 out and stir in 1/2 cup flour & 1/2 cup water). It should get lots of bubbles and have a pleasant sour or beery smell. After 3-4 days ( could be more or less), when you have a bubbly froth, it's done. Just put it in the fridge and give it some breathing room. If you use the pickle jar just poke a hole in the lid. Once the starter is chilled, it needs to be fed only once a week. Realistically, you can get away with less; it’s important to remember that your starter is a colony of life-forms that are almost impossible to kill (except with extreme heat). Even starving them is difficult. I will be posting more "exciting" pictures of my pet over the next few days to share the fermentation process. Hopefully it doesn't end up like the cactus!

{GIVE AWAY}

There is a GIVE AWAY featuring one of my lunch sacks at http://www.ohsweetsadie.com/! I will be at these boutiques with lunch sacks, hooded towels (both dates) and my NEW reversible baby slings (Sept 26th)! Show your support for local artisans and come by for your birthday, baby shower & Christmas gifts! Or just pick up some great things for yourself :)

The turn out for the Avenues Street Fair was great. My good friend Malia stopped by with her chubby cheeked PRINCESS as well as other friends & acquaintances I hadn't seen in forever! I was also able to meet some new people through Heather. It was great to get feedback on my creations and see what others were doing. Heather did great and her stuff is SO cute! So inspiring :)

Thanks to all who came by this weekend, friends and customers alike~I'm really excited about the Oh Sweet Sadie! shows and hoping for a BIG turn out. Lots to do to recover from the craziness lately (even made 30 jars of fresh peach jelly yesterday with my Mom!), so I'd better get to it. I gave out LOTS of cards at the Fair so if anyone wants to inquire about custom orders, please contact me at scraphappyutah@yahoo.com

Aprons & Visitors

In preparing for the Avenues Street Fair (going on this Saturday, downtown Salt Lake on 3rd Ave. between I & N - from 9am-6pm) I was asked where I was going to keep my money, paper & pen, etc....the few essential items one would need. After pondering this overnight, I decided that a little apron with pockets would be cute. So this morning before the kids woke up I revisited my fabric stash and found some scraps I could work with and put it together while Nolan took a nap this afternoon. These were left overs from a tote/diaper bag I made. Don't you just love Amy Butler's Midwest Modern line? Not only is it functional, but it's bright colors will {hopefully} draw customers from down the street! :) You can't miss this one, huh? LOL!
Usually nap time is my ONLY time of the day for "me." I try to eat lunch alone and recharge my batteries. So while I'm sewing my apron today, the dogs start to go CRAZY, barking and carrying on. Maybe since I've lived in some not so desirable areas in my life, I tend to not answer the door if I'm home alone and not expecting anyone. But there was an unfamiliar man outside. I watched out the window for a minute and he proceeded to put a sign up in my yard. My first assumption was he was from some political campaign and was putting a sign of support in my yard since he thought I wasn't home (don't EVEN ask me who I am voting for!) so I flung open he door and announced "Can I help you, SIR?!" Turns out I need to just keep on sewing next time...he was from the Homeowners Association and here's what the sign read:
Apparently they like our colorful yard. After he handed me the Cafe Rio gift card I was ready to invite him in for coffee and fresh banana bread :) Isn't it funny how we can become programmed to think negatively in an unknown situation? Actually, I felt a little embarrassed for charging outside but mama can't help be protective of her family :) And the gift card is AwEsOmE!! No one else in the family - besides me - likes Cafe Rio! YAY! Now I have a reason to go. The chicken salad is the best thing ever. My mouth's watering already.

I can't believe it's not buttered popcorn!

Happy Birthday MIRA! This is what she saw when she came out of her room this am: (Yes, I sat & waited with the camera!)
She loves to ride her scooter and has been hinting at wanting one of these electric ones. This one is a little bigger and will hold more weight, i.e., Travis (I think that was a selling point!) She's in "double digits" now as she clearly has reminded us all...several times :) This afternoon she is having her girlfriends over to watch Nim's Island in the Love Sac and play games, eat pizza, etc. I'm actually looking forward to it as all of her friends get along very well and are so sweet. Here's a peek of what I came up with to go with the movie theme of the day:

Nope, it's not popcorn...that wouldn't taste so good on chocolate cupcakes :) It's pastel yellow marshmallows! When you cut them into pieces and stick the freshly cut sides back together, it {sort of} looks like popcorn. I was going to cover the entire top of the cupcake with the "popcorn" but I thought that may be a little too much. Then the girls would be taking the marshmallows off and they'd get all over the place, plastered to who knows what by the vanilla frosting, in the carpet....you get the idea. So, less is more - right?!?

Last night brought more goodies for the craft expo on Saturday - hooded towels. These are slightly smaller, toddler to 4T size. The ribbons are so fun and hopefully they are well received.


More slings, even kid sized ones, tonight. As always I will post more photos as I make progress.