Custom Order Challenge

Hi!  Christmas is over, and New Year's Day is coming this week.  This has been a bittersweet holiday season for us, since we lost our parents earlier this year.  We've had a chance to reflect on childhood memories and the legacy our parents behind.  We are truly blessed.

We were busy this holiday season fulfilling orders for some customers.  So..... we decided to share some of those orders with you. You'll get to vote on your favorite.

Elephant Tote
One customer asked for a very big tote with elephant fabric for her daughter, who has twin boys.  This cute elephant fabric is from Edward Emberley. The lining is made of some very cute ladybug fabric. It is a huge tote and will be put to great use with lots of boy things.  Who doesn't like ladybugs, unless they're crawling on you.

Cat Pillows
This customer wanted 2 cat pillows -- one for her sister and one for her aunt.  And she didn't want them exactly alike, except for the cat fabric.  She liked them, so let's hope her family liked them, too.

When we are at craft shows, people always look for items that have animals on them.  People love their animals.

We hope this new year is a healthy and happy year for you and your family.  Stay tuned for more new challenges each month.  Remember to vote!!

November Challenge

We had a great time at the Chris Cringle craft show earlier this month.  We sold alot of our goods and made a little money.  That's always nice.  Our first customers this year were 3 sisters.  These 3 sisters love animal prints.  Dogs.  Cats.  Elephants.  Anything with animals.  They each bought a new coin purse and maybe a coaster or two.  They were our first customers at the show last year, too.  They made a point of visiting our booth first this year before any other booth, because they wanted to buy some of our products.  That made us feel good.  This was our 4th year to have a booth at Chris Cringle, and one of the sisters has bought from us every year.  For some odd reason, I always remember her.  She has always bought animal prints.

A week or so after that show, we received invitations to 2 or 3 other shows this year.  We aren't able to make commitments to them, because we are already booked.  We don't do many craft shows, because sewing is a hobby for us.  We don't want it to feel like work, and it's not how we earn a living.  It's just a fun thing that earns us a little money.  No harm in that.

But...we do have other events on our calendars.  Joy is holding her annual Crafty Christmas Open House on Dec. 7th.  Jan is busy getting ready for two more shows.  The first one is this Saturday, Nov. 30th at Not Your Mama's Craft Market at the YMCA at Marysville, OH.  Her next show is less than a week later at her workplace.

We both decided to make new and different items that we didn't have available at Chris Cringle.  And that is what we decided to share as our challenge for this month.  Never before seen stuff.

Here's what we've come up with this month.

Framed embroidery
These are simple inspirational framed embroidery pieces that would look great on your desk, dresser, or kitchen counter.  Fill your hearts and minds with uplifting words and you'll be more inclined to treat others in a positive way.

Liberty of London totes
These totes are made from the luxurious Liberty of London fabrics.  Beautiful is the only word to describe them.

Remember...vote for your favorite.  and have a great Thanksgiving!!!

Tote Sewing Challenge

We are gearing up for our Fall craft show season.  We don't go crazy with craft shows, but we do have a couple dates on our calendars.  We'll tell you about those dates in just a bit.  So that means that we are should be sewing like crazy.  We've got coin purses, wristlets, totes, pillows and coasters on the brain.  Our sewing rooms are beginning to look like Christmas.  Well, sort of.  That means we've been on the lookout for a new style of tote for our fall season.  We've each made a new pattern, and we would like for you to vote on your favorite.

Tote #1   Fabric: Gray, Beige and Flax Linen (exterior). 

Color Block Tote

It's bigger than you think!

Casual but classy

Tote #2 

Navy Zig Zag

Fabric: Simply Style Navy Blue Zig Zag Ombre by V and Co (exterior). Ombre Dots by Riley Blake (interior).

It's so big, it's almost a skirt! 

Ombre dots on the inside

Today is also the start of our favorite college team's football seasons.  Joy lives in Champaign, IL and is a huge fan of the Fighting Illini at University of Illinois.  Basketball is more the sport of choice for her, and she is suffering through the football season.  Jan lives in Columbus, OH and is a huge fan of The Ohio State University Buckeyes. Jan's household prefers football and suffers through basketball season.  It gets a little dicey when our teams play each other.  Sometimes on our visits to each other's houses, the unsuspecting homeowner will find the opposing team's stickers all over the place.  It's only amusing if you're the one who has hidden the stickers.  hehe

Back to our craft show schedule.  If you would like to see our creations in person, here is our schedule.  We'll post more info on facebook as these dates get closer.

Nov. 1&2 (Jan & Joy)
Chris Cringle
University of Illinois
Champaign, IL

Nov. 30th (Jan)
Not Your Mama's Craft Market
Union County Fair Grounds
Marysville, OH

A Saturday in December (Joy)
Joy's Holiday Open House
Champaign, IL

Take a minute during a commercial break or in between plays and vote for your favorite tote!!!  As always, the voting is anonymous.  We don't know who votes.  So just vote!!

Spoonflower Challenge

Have you ever dreamed of designing your own fabric?  Well, now you can.  There is a website called Spoonflower where you can actually design fabric.  Then you can even sell it, if you want.  Spoonflower even has a weekly contest, and you can vote for your favorite fabric design of the week.

Sooo...this month we decided to try our hand at designing fabric and then making something out of it.  How fun!  The problem?!  We can't draw.  One of us actually did draw the design, and the other one of us uploaded photos.

See how our fabric designs turned out, and vote for your favorite!!

Coral and Gray Drawstring Tote
For the cute drawstring bag, the Spoonflower design is the coral flower print and the coral stripes on the inside.  These are two fun prints that were hand drawn.  I could see a cute little girl's dress made out of these two prints.

All this stuff can fit inside the bag.

This bag isn't just pretty, but it is also hard working.

Old Lebanese Stamps Tote
 Photos of old stamps were uploaded to make a cool historical print.  Wouldn't these look great as pillows, too?  Or how about pajama pants?

Inside the tote

Stamps up close

What do you think?  Should we keep our day jobs or become fabric designers?  Hmmm.