{Look Again}

I recently read Look Again by Lisa Scottoline which was suggested by my mom. It was GREAT. It opens up with Ellen finding a "Have you seen this child" postcard in the mail and the resemblance between the missing boy and Ellen's adopted son, Will, makes her question the secrets behind the closed adoption. I definitely recommend this book if you are looking for a new read. I am about to move on to another of her books, "Dirty Blonde". Mom says it's fantastic, I'll keep you posted. Happy weekend!!

{Simply-A-Bloom Quilt}

Well Ladies (and Gentleman??), I'm not really sure what I was waiting for to show you my most recent completed quilt. It's been done since my trip to the beach,.... remember?

So, here you have it! I made this using the pattern by Miss Bloom and Simple Abundance fabric by Bonnie & Camille. Can you stand it??? Honestly people, this is really the first quilt I've made for myself to keep (excluding my very first ever quilt,.... ever).

I LOVE it! It has been on my bed, on the Tide Point Deck for July Fourth fireworks, on the hill for Flicks on the Hill. It's just perfect!

My next to complete is the Wild Thing quilt I started,.... even before this one was started I believe!

So, on a side note.... my husband sensed that I have been a bit busy and stressed out recently and told me I needed to take a day off and spend it at the SPA!!!! For REAL! NO,... I'm not kidding! This Friday, I am taking a personal day just to relax, no husband, no friends, no animals, no plans, no crafting, no work... just me and my SPA DAY!!! I canNOT wait. Rest assured, I will be back to let you know all about it and how relaxed I feel after. :)

XOXO Jessie

{It Was a Baby Kind of Day}

OH MY GOSH!!!! How cute is this tiny little baby!?!?! This is Avery and her parents are friends of mine and my husbands, so I was thrilled when they asked me to take some pictures of their baby girl.

Avery is a preemie and these pictures were taken AFTER she gained two whole pounds!! I had so much fun taking pictures of her! Once we got her content and I had the camera ready to go, it was very easy to get the perfect shot. I think babies have just become my favorite subject. Which just so happens to be a bit of a coincidence since I just became an Aunt to sweet little Sophia!!!!!

I held her today and fell right in love. I cannot WAIT to take her picture!! What a perfect little girl!!

{I Forgot About My Garden!}

My husband and I worked on our yard a few weeks ago and I completely forgot that I walked around taking pictures of everything to share with you!

Our little hydrangea. I never saw these growing in Texas but they are EVERYWHERE here. Come to think of it, they were growing like crazy in South Carolina too!

These awesome bubble-y, float-y pond plants are new and just totally cool right?? You just drop them right in the water and they float around and are supposed to get HUGE. You can also see some of our fish very faintly in the back there.

The homeowner before us was very unique with the decorating and the backyard was filled with all kinds of nick knacks, garden statues, pots, things hanging on the fence,... etc. This little pirate ship was left behind and resides on the fence above the pond and, well, I thought it was pretty cute.

This is a little teeny tiny strawberry! About the size of a dime. Okay, it's not a REAL strawberry, you can't eat it, but it sure does look cute growing in my garden.

We worked on the front yard too. :)

Whaaat??? That IS my front yard.

{A Wedding Box for Emilie}

A friend of mine at work approached me recently and asked if I would make a paper box for a friend of hers that had just gotten married in France. I love making custom boxes so I jumped on it. She gave me a bag filled with invitations, save-the-dates, programs, menus among other paper items from Emilie's wedding.

The original idea was to use the paper items as inspiration for making the box and that she would include all of those items in the box for the bride to keep. The more I looked at each item, the more I thought it would be even cooler to actually incorporate them into MAKING the box. Somehow, someway this flower idea popped into my head and I am LOVING the outcome!

I cut parts from everything in the bag to make this awesome looking flower that just about covers the entire top of the box. I even used the ribbons that were holding the programs together. I am actually thinking about doing this with all my leftover paper items from my wedding.

I also cut some cute parts out into squares that I used around the sides. LOVE this little square from the menu.

So, I have been thinking a lot lately about my Etsy shop and how neglectful I have been with it. The truth is that I haven't made jewelry in a really long time. I have been into so many other things and my Etsy shop has just suffered while I have been crocheting, sewing,... etc. My idea is to kind of diversify my shop by adding items other than just the jewelry. My first new item is to be one of these custom wedding boxes. What do you think? Do you think buyers would be interested in something like this? I thought, the buyer can mail their paper items to be incorporated in the box to me, and I will come up with a design based on what I receive. Of course, I could also add just any of my paper boxes, but thought this was extra unique and would be a good start. Let me know your feedback.

Happy Sunday Everyone!

{Coming Soon: CSN Stores Item Review}

So, do you remember this super fun GIVEAWAY!?!?! Well CSN stores has given me the opportunity to review one of their MANY MANY items! Let me tell you, it was really hard to decide on just one item, but I think I have picked something really good!!! CSN Stores has over 200 different stores to choose from and over 1 million items, including beautiful dining room tables, outdoor furniture, and accessories for the little fur baby (and the not so furry baby) in your life! And I happen to have my eye on this super cute laptop bag (in the perfect color!).

I can't wait to show you what I chose to review from CSN Stores... so stay tuned!

{South Carolina Vacation - Part 2}

Yes,... another one of THESE crazy picture posts. See, and the thing is that I pick pictures that are virtually the same, but in MY mind, they are so so different and I can't choose. I'm a dork,... I'm aware.

Back to the topic at hand. I did mention that my mom and I did quite a bit of crafting while we were at the beach so let me quickly run through what went down.

Below: Dining room turned sewing room.

Remember this quilt post? Well, I just got around to quilting it at the beach. Talk about PUTTING THINGS OFF. (I'm beginning to see a trend with that......)

So, "Simply-A-Bloom" (from Roslyn of Bloom) was basted...

Stippled...

and stippled some more.

Remember this quilt post? I finally finished piecing the "Wild Thing" quilt top. (pattern from Camille of Thimble Blossoms) It too was basted, but not stippled.

Below: Craft Hope dish cloths in the making.

You might recognize those yummy colored cloths below :) (and yes, we did watch The Holiday, its my all time FAVORITE movie! Probably seen it about 100 times,... "totally brill")

Mom decided to get back into crochet and lent a helping hand with some Craft Hope dish cloths as well. (below)

This is the mess that we made,.... and continued to grow throughout the week. Lovely right??

Yummy, Yummy dish cloths.

And, as if I didn't already have enough projects started,.... I got sucked into the Hexagon trend!! I actually really really enjoy hand sewing/stitching/embroidery so I decided to give these little Hexa-squares a try. (my husband made that word up :) These hexies are ALLLLL the rage on the crafty inter-webs,.... and so adorable, I couldn't resist.

Everyone is right too, they are very addicting, and a lot of fun.

The NINE (turned ten) hour drive home was the perfect time to finish hand-stitching the binding on the Bloom quilt...

(finished!!!!!)

AND there was even some time leftover for some hexa-squaring. PERFECT little travel project.

So, there you have it. ONE completed quilt (which I will post about later). One basted quilt, one NEW quilt project started,... yeah. And one Craft Hope project almost completed. It was a great, productive, and still relaxing trip. I wouldn't have been able to get so much done with my quilts if I didn't have my mom there to help me! Thanks Mom!