Bumblebee Bags

New York part 2

2009-12-15T04:59:00.000-08:00

Well New York was absolutely fabulous!!! Crazy traffic but just amazing to walk around and look at everything. I had the best time and I went to Mood!!!

can I just say how awesome this place is!!!! They have everything from buttons to buckles to a whole wall of ribbon and trim.....a sew'rs heaven!

just look at all that fabric! I also got to see where they filmed Project Runway. Parsons School of Design. There were dress forms in all the windows...too cool!

the only bad point.....the cost. We went out for dinner and my meal was 37.oo dollars. JUST FOR ME!! Now I know for some of you that may not be alot, but for where I live it is. We usually spend that for our family of 5 when we eat out. What cost the most? My 11 DOLLAR drink.

didnt know that til the bill came. Oh well, all in all it was a fabulous day!

New York State of Mind!

2009-12-11T09:58:00.000-08:00

As you all know (from an earlier post) I am going on my first ever bus trip to NY this Saturday (can I say again how excited I am) so I decided to make a little messenger bag to take along. I didnt want to lug around my big ole' bag. You know....the mommy one....the one that holds EVERYTHING but the kitchen sink, though some days by how heavy it is I think its in there too! So this is what I came up with....my new messenger bag pattern.

it has a magnetic snap closure flap and its cute, cute, cute

(if I do say so myself)

a nice long handle so it can fit across the chest comfortabley

and my favorite......lots of pockets to hold all the essentials. I put in pockets just for my drivers license (can I say that I hate the fact that blogger no longer has a spell check on here...I just had to google license to see if I spelled it right) and credit cards so I dont even have to carry a wallet and it has two bigger pockets for my cell phone and camera.

so what do ya think?

My Beautiful Boys!

2009-12-10T03:16:00.000-08:00

I often find myself shocked that these beautiful, perfect (maybe not all the time) boys came from me. I have no greater blessings in my life than these!

Oh, the way it was!

2009-12-08T05:26:00.000-08:00

For the past week and a half we have had a wonderful nightly routine. I make sure all my sewing is done..the dishes are done, the little one is in bed and then my two older boys and I watch a movie. Not just any movie....but North and South. I absolutely fell in love with this series the very first time that I saw it, and I am sooo happy to say that my boys love it just as much as me!

has any of you ever watched this? If there were ever a time that I loved it was the Old South. (let me start off by saying I am totally against the slavery that went on) the dresses and the balls, but most of all the Honor! Gentlemen were bred to BE gentlemen. They had honor and dignity. They fought for what they believed in, and heaven forbid if you insulted them or their families. Do you remember the duels fought over women's honor?

What a time. Now-a-days its hard to find many with honor. People are rude and selfish and just plain gossipy. The whole notion of a "gentleman" has gone out the window. Just yesterday I was flipped off by an OLDER man in his car. All while I had 3 kids in mine. Nice, nice to know that respect is still out there. This is the same person who will then complain about the "younger generation not having any respect" I miss the old days. When people went to church, when they had empathy and compassion and when most of all the men had RESPECT for women. As a mother of 3 boys I hope to instill manners in them.

Not just the "please and thank you's" but real manners. Like..ALWAYS hold the door for a lady, NEVER disparage a women's character, ALWAYS be attentive to her needs and thoughts and ideas, work HARD and SUPPORT your family, ALWAYS be true to your word, but most of all......live with Honor and Dignity!

I'm going on a trip

2009-12-06T07:40:00.000-08:00

Next Saturday I'm going to good ole' NYC. I am so damn excited. I have NEVER been there. I've been at the airport more than a few times but never downtown NY. The VERY FIRST place I want to go is.........

this is THE fabric store of Project Runway (my all time favorite show). Maybe....just maybe Tim Gunn will be there!

and of course I want my picture taken with him. JUST BECAUSE!!!!!

Did I say how excited I was? Anyone else have some ideas of great places to visit in NY!

I bought myself something...

2009-12-05T08:09:00.000-08:00

I was on Etsy the other night, just looking around when all of a sudden "BAM" I saw it. The most beautifulest (is this a word?) necklace EVER!!!!! So I bought it (well ok actually ordered is more like it) just like that. No thinking, no waiting...just a fast click of the mouse and it's mine........take a look

obviously mine will have 3 discs and they will have MY boys names on them, but isn't it just awesome!!! I soooo cannot wait to get it! It's by Wisegal Designs. Go check her out.....you may find your own to die for necklace!

these are a few of my favorite things.....

2009-12-04T07:10:00.000-08:00

Gloria Jeans Sleigh Ride! a wonderful chocolate coffee peppermint mix....in a milkshake style.....YUMMY!

Noel Scent from Bath and Body...a sweet warm sugar smell. Simply devine! They only come out with this at Christmas so stock up!

Candy Canes............no explanation needed!

Real Ugg boots....dont own a pair...but oh, I soooo want too. Put one foot in this baby and you will see why!

Stockings all hung by the chimney with care (hand sewn by me of course)

O' Christmas Tree how beautiful are you!

the real meaning of Christmas!

and last but not least......snuggling with my boys in front of a fire and watching all the Christmas movies!

so what are some of YOUR favorite things?

Shhhh

2009-12-03T08:31:00.000-08:00

Shhhhh!.......can ya hear it? The excited whispers of the kids, the frustrated sighs of the parents. The kaachinnng of the cash registers.....the loneliness of the empty wallet. Trees and tinsel and cookies and pies......

Yep......its CHRISTMAS TIME!!!!!!

Crazy month

2009-11-27T15:49:00.000-08:00

Phewwww, what a couple of months! I have never been soooo busy. I am so thankful that my business has really taken off. I have had orders coming in left and right. At this moment I have 12 orders to do for Christmas! This doesn't count the 10 that I already got done! I'm tickled pink..lol!

This year has been good to my family. Lots of love and laughter. Alot of dreams getting accomplished. If someone had told me years ago that I would be this happy later in life I never would have believed them. I feel so fortunate.....I hope everyone else has a wonderful Thanksgiving....and remembers those who cant!

~Christina

PS: CHECK OUT ALL MY NEW "STUFF" IN MY SHOP!

Alway's Sew Busy!

2009-10-15T17:36:00.000-07:00

I have been so negligent lately on blogging. I have had to resew all 13 chicken bags as they have never shown up! Plus I am having an Open House on November 5th with over 14 different vendors. I am trying to get my new stuff out there also. So I will be MIA for awhile.........

Hershey Park Fun

2009-09-22T07:13:00.000-07:00

After all the stress the past couple of weeks I decided to take the boys and their best friend to Hershey Park for some fun. I left the little one with a sitter and away we went!is it so wrong that I want to take a gigantic bite out of him ;)

our first coaster...the comet

the boys and some friends who went to0. From l to r..Brogan, Mathew, William, Luke and Austin

Brogan, Austin and their best friend Luke

Austin and Mom on the bumper cars

Me and my best friends Amy and Jen

and the picture below is my absolute favorite. Jen and I were in front of Brogan and her son Brandon. I held the camera over my shoulder and right as we went down the first huge drop I snapped this photo. I almost dropped the darn thing (it was attached around my neck) I am soooo amazed at the shot that came out. I love the look on Brandon's face....pure terror!!!

it was a great day!

Ean turns 2

2009-09-22T07:08:00.000-07:00

I cant believe my little guy is 2 already. Where does the time go? He had a great time at his party and as you can tell he totally loved his new Elmo Computer from Grandma.He wasn't to sure about the talking Elmo

and the cake was delicious.

all in all it was a great day......just a little sad at how fast he is growing up.

13 Chicken Print Bags and 3 others

2009-09-03T08:21:00.001-07:00

and thats all folks!

More Orders

2009-07-24T09:42:00.000-07:00

I cant remember if I ever blogged on here about the huge custom order that I have been working on. A gentleman in Georgia (his wife is a traveling nurse in the hospital where I work) saw one of the bags that I made her and really liked it. He works for Tyson Chicken and they have a big convention in September that he goes to...well he ordered 13 bags from me. He wants all of them to be done in chicken print fabric. He called me yesterday and ordered 6 more bags for Christmas presents. He is so much fun to talk to on the phone. Big southern drawl and all, he sounds so much like my daddys brother that I feel like I'm talking to family. So that is what has been keeping me busy. That and my boys. Also if you remember a post from awhile back about something big going on well it was this. I got asked if I could make a cookie lee bag for a lady to use as a incentive for her sales girls. The highest sellers would win my bag. She told me that there could be orders as big as 50 to 60 bags. Well I was super excited until reality set in. First off to make those bags is an absolute pain in my you know what! It takes ALOT of time and I do mean ALOT!!! Second: the cost to make these bags are outrageous, which cuts into my profit in a big way. To even make a profit off of this bag I would have had to charge her around 95 to 100 dollars. Which she does not want to pay. She wanted to stay around the 35 dollar range. So I told her no. I am only one person and it is not worth my time with my family to spend 3 DAYS making one bag for a profit of 8 dollars! She was very nice and I feel bad but I can only do so much and then it just gets completely overwhelming. I am so glad I listened to my head!

New bags

2009-03-12T08:05:00.000-07:00

I had an order for 3 bags from a sweet little lady. She is in love with her dog and wanted her pic on two of her bags. I really hope she likes how they turned out.

AND!!!!! I finally got my bag.....is it not stunning! I am in total love. You have to click on the pic to see all the bling on it.

the wallet matches perfectly.....can I say how much I love my husband....he totally rocks!

and on a final note....how hysterical is this.....its spider stickers

this boy just makes me laugh!!!

I am devstated and pissed off!

2009-09-17T14:59:00.000-07:00

Well I think the title says it all.....here is what has been happening in my world. The wonderful USPS has lost the 9POUND!!!!! box that had all 13 bags in it. The man needed it by Wednesday and it never came......I mailed it out on the 5th of September. Seems a young man at the post office decided to play God and changed my shipping from Priority to Parcel after I had paid and left. I did put insurance on it...but they cant track it with just the insurance UNTIL it shows up and someone signs for it. WHAT A FREAKIN!!! NIGHTMARE!!!!! I am soooo disappointed and so upset....I spent all Wednesday bawling my eyes out. At this point I am just hoping that they show up. I feel awful for Bud (he has been amazing about this and says he will still use the bags at a later date) and I feel like a failure. It is so frustrating to work so hard on something and then it just disappears. Lets just pray that they DO SHOW UP at some point!

ps: talked to the "post master" today and the young gentleman was fired. Seems this was not the first time he has tampered with the mail.

Amy's Sew and Tell

2009-09-04T05:01:00.000-07:00

Amy from Mommy and Beyond is having friday Sew and Tell. Every Friday you can brag about what you got done that week and show it off. There is some AMAZINGLY talented women out there...aren't we women just awesome.....so go check it out!

I'm Baaaaccckkk!!

2009-09-02T11:37:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe it has been so long since I blogged. In my defense I have been super busy. Here's what I've been up to....

I went down to Elkin, Nc to visit my mama. She lives WAY out in the country and it is beautiful, this is a pic of the old barn that is out behind her house.

little Ean running after the dog down the dirt lane. I love this picture!

all the boys running back up

He had so much fun with the dogs and the water hose

The boys got to help Grandma pick tomatoes

Even the little man got to help

Then we went to Mt.Airy where Andy Griffith was filmed. The boys loved Opie's Candy Shop

We saw Sheriff Andy drive by

and the town drunk was still there

they had a blast at the malt shop

me and the boys and my momma

Daryl turned 38 so we gave him a nice dinner out!

I ees mucho hombre'

We then went to Myrtle Beach and stayed at Ocean Lakes. It took me days to get all the sand off of him.

he turned into a little fish

we went to Patriots Point Landing in Charleston, SC. I loved Charleston so beautiful!

my proud soldiers

we ate at Bubba Gump's Shrimp which was a huge hit as we are all Forrest Gump fans.

me and my hubby and yes he is just as much a teddy bear in person as he looks....geesh I love that man!

and Ean has learned how to say "cheese" ain't he a cutie

So that's some of things I've been doing. Tomorrow I will post about the 17 bags I've made in the past 2 weeks. I will put up pics of them all.

OMG! Look what I did!

2009-06-28T06:23:00.000-07:00

I am so excited. I just redid my room and I LOVE IT!!!!! If you remember this is what my room looked like and this is what I wanted to do to it. I just didn't want to spend a crazy amount of money on it. The bed that I liked was $600 alone. So I just kinda put it aside and dreamed about it. BUT......then I was perusing Craigslist (can I say how much I love that site) and I found a bed for sale. Not just any bed, but a beautiful black 4 poster bed. The best part was the price....you ready for this...$65.00 dollars. That's it! So that started the whole venture for me, and the results are EXACTLY what I wanted. Take a look for yourself ...........

this is the view walking into my room

and tada! The Bed! Oh lordy ain't she a beaut!

Every time I look at this pic I'm in awe. $65.00 dollars for the bed and if you remember the bedspread was only $23.97. So for less than $90.00 dollars this is what I got!

this sign above the bed says "Always kiss me goodnight"

this is my dresser. I love stars if you cant tell already

the curtain star tiebacks I got for $1.00 each.

next is a new TV. Wish I could find a 37" flat screen on Craigslist.

my closet with more of the $1.00 star tiebacks

I bought these lamp shades at Target for $7.00 and hot glued fringe on them. Too cute.

this is the hallway between my room and Eans

and this is the stairway down as you leave our rooms....and that is where the tour ends. I hope you love my room as much as I do.

Woe is me!

2009-06-18T13:09:00.003-07:00

Well the diaper bag was a hit. As a matter of fact it was a huge hit. I have been given an amazing oppurtunity to create something new and exciting. I'm not gonna say what yet. I still have to figure out the pattern...and can I say what a @#%%*! IF and I do mean IF I can pull this off it will be HUGE to me. This pattern is testing every sewing skill that I thought I had and then some. So please put out a prayer that I get it figured out and if I do.....I'll tell ya what its all about!

~Christina

A bag for a baby girl

2009-06-11T08:33:00.000-07:00

I love baby showers.....I especially love "girl" baby showers. As a mom to 3 boys it is sooo much fun to make things for girls. I get to use pink (I've tried to use it for my boys but for some reason they wont go for it ....go figure) and I can put bows and all kinds of cool things on whatever I am making. Sometimes I go a little crazy. Case in point.....my husbands cousins (got that) baby shower. I know her...but not really well, but that still did not stop me from going overboard for her shower. I couldn't help it..she's having a girl. I have been envisioning this bag since I saw Tina Givens material. So I made it for her.It has two front pockets and 4 interior pockets. Plus I put a zippered pocket on the back of the bag.

I love the contrast between the front and the back.

the whole reason I made this bag was for the sides. I knew I wanted this material and I knew I wanted the birds to go down the side. I love it and I love the bows. They go through metal grommets...if you zoom in you might see it closer.

and then I made her bibs. I love, love, love the bow one. If only Ean would let me put it on him (let me rephrase that...if only my husband would let me put it on him) Oh! how sweet!
Then I made custom burp cloths. I see these all over the web and had to try and make some. Can you say SUPER EASY!!!!
I even used my new embroidery machine on 3 of them. They look so pretty. I may have to do some wash cloths or something for me.
Here they are all rolled up and ready to go.

finally I made her a key chain. I absolutely love these. I use one EVERY DAY!!!! They are soooo awesome....you just slip it over your wrist and you don't have to try and dig keys out of your bag while holding a wriggly baby. Just Awesome!
and at last.....its all packaged up with a bow. I hope she likes everything as much as I did making it. OOOOH I need a girl (yes I love my boys....to the moon and back....but I still want a girl)!

I Did It!!!!

2009-06-02T05:08:00.000-07:00

Well I did my first 5k (that's 3.2 miles folks) and I am still so excited about it. I ran the WHOLE DAMN thing!!!!! Never in a million years would I have thought I would do something like this. It really was alot of fun. I can see why people do alot of these. As a matter of fact I am doing another 5k in July and in October I am doing a 10k ( 6.4 miles ) down in Washington, Dc. Its for the Marine Corp and the boys will be doing a 1 mile fun run with the Marines. It sounds like sooo much fun. They also do a marathon. Check it out it looks like alot of fun. If anyone lives around the area and wants to participate let me know we can hook up and do it together. This is my running buddy Sandy. She finished in 34 minutes and I forget how many seconds. She was smoking hot! I finished in 39 minutes and 41 seconds. I still cant believe I did it.

I came in 154th. I think there were about 200 runners. Honestly.....I'm just super happy I wasn't last!

My niece came up to spend the weekend with us. She brought the exchange student that has been living with them, she is from Germany. We took them all down to Baltimore Inner Harbor. If you haven't ever been there you should go. It is so beautiful and so much fun.

My boys loved Lena. They are HUGE WWII fans and kept asking her about Germans and Nazis and does her family say "hail Hitler." I had to pull them aside a couple of times and have a "talk" thank goodness she thought they were funny and took no offense.

I love this pic of my niece and I. She graduates this Friday. I don't know how I'm going to make it through the day!

and last but certainly not least......a pic of the badness himself. He is getting sooo big, so quickly. Its not fair that they grow up so fast.

Busy times ahead!

2009-05-18T04:41:00.001-07:00

I cant believe its the middle of may already. So much has been going on time seems to fly. I spent Saturday doing my nieces hair and makeup for her senior prom. Then I spent the whole drive home bawling my eyes out. I am sooo proud of her..she is not only drop dead gorgeous on the outside, she is also one of the kindest, smartest and truest people I know. I feel like she is my own daughter. As I was doing her hair all I could think of was when she was the flower girl in my wedding at age 5. She was so cute, she spent all night asking if she could have more "lipdicks" on. Yes she meant lipstick. As soon as I get a pic (of course I forgot my camera) I will post one on here.

In other news I finally broke down and bought a good sewing machine. The one I had been using was just a $60 dollar one from Wal-mart. It worked great but its amazing all the cool little attachments and doodads that come with some of the newer ones. I have 80plus embroidery stitches on the new one....I cant wait to incorporate that into my bags. Speaking of which I have 6 to get done this week. So off I go.......

Happy Mothers Day!

2009-05-10T04:57:00.001-07:00

Happy Mom's Day to ALL the wonderful moms out there. Enjoy the day!

~Christina

Etsy

2009-04-14T09:34:00.000-07:00

Well I opened up an Etsy shop today. I don't know if I told everyone or not but I closed my website down. It was just way to much to pay a month. I did sell off of it, but more than that I got ALOT of custom orders. I think people just wanted a way to see what I can do, so I think Etsy will more than suit my purpose. No sooner did I upload my photos than I got 2 emails from this wonderful lady at www.karensfieldgallery@blogspot.com. She gave me some wonderful tips on how to make my photos better and how to utilize the tags. I soooo appreciate this. For some of us its all greek and any and all help is wonderful. But......not only did she do this, she also made me her Favorite Etsy shop of the day! Can you believe it? What an incredibly nice thing to do! She does some amazingly beautiful artwork so if you get the chance go check her out.....and me too!