fall has fell.

(as my mom used to say).

i think more resolutions for a new year hit me around october than january, because i love the season so much. when the grass gets that little chill and the apples are crisp on the trees, everything just feels so fresh and new.

i'm also fairly convinced that this blog will be the end of me... this momma of three (with one more on the way about the same time as us) seems to be able to accomplish more making in one afternoon than i probably have listed on my 'long term crafting goals' list, buried somewhere underneath the boxes of craft things i still need to get put away from the move (mainly fabric). she simultaneously appeals to my perfectionist side by inspiring me to a new level of not only getting things done, but doing them well and so as to surround your family with handmade loveliness (everything from bathmats to handknit baby blankets)... but also makes me feel like these things can get done with out the must-get-it-done-now frenzy of a to-do list, and can calmly make my house more of a home full of cozy handmade memories.

i envision a house full of little ones making their own button and string projects while i make them each baby blankets and birthday crowns and bookbags... yet i can't even seem to use these numbered days of first baby on the way/no kids/no job to get something productive done.

so what do i do? i make a list!

things i plan to accomplish in my last 8 weeks of pre-child life:

1. make baby K's quilt of wishes from her baby shower. i have a heartbreaking stack of quilts my mom started that i don't know how to finish without potentially ruining, and i don't want to pass that on to K. i had everyone at her shower write one wish or blessing on a square of fabric, and i plan to embroider them and then quilt the squares into a crib quilt.
   


2. make the squares i have that were pre-cut by my mom into a couch snuggly blanket. this will be accomplished in the most easy fashion i can think of, and finished quickly so as to be enjoyed! (which may mean that i quilt it over an old store-bought blanket we already have. so be it).


3. the last two huge rubbermaid totes of fabric inherited from my mom will be emptied and organized onto my shelves so that when i go to make a project, i can simply stand in front of a shelf-full of fabric, make my choices, and go sew!


4. finish listing everything i currently have made into my ellebee studio etsy shop and keep things organized so that they can be sent out quickly and efficiently! i have so many lovely things that i'm excited about sharing, and i know at least a small time of some sort of maternity leave is inevitable coming... must be prepared!


5. last but not least, i'd like to finish geting things together to realize my other two shops-in-the-works studio supplies and petite bee (both coming soon!), stocked up and ready to go! this will require getting several baby projects finished for petite bee as well, so hopefully i can use some of this baby fever productively!
   

new items in the shop!

i'm pleased to announce that some new lovelies for fall are finally making their way into the shop! stop by and have a browse if you get the chance...

constant companion.

since i still have about 10 weeks to go before official mommy-hood, it's been a big transition for me from working full time to stay-at-home mom... luckily, i've had my constant little companion to keep me company through the move, the unpacking, the organizing, and the lazing around that simply must happen some days, especially as the belly gets bigger and bigger.


i don't know where we could have found a sweeter, snugglier little
faithful friend than pontouf... definitely my constant companion (and
spoiled puppers, yes, that is my bed she's in!). she seems to have taken a liking to the carefully constructed shroud of pillows i make each night these days. being surrounded by pillows on all sides seems to be the only way to sleep semi-comfortably between a big belly and lots of heartburn!

a little mental break.

it's been a few weeks and i am just now emerging from beneath some really busy times! it started with switching to a new doctor in greensboro, and starting to go every 2 weeks instead of every month now that we're at 29 weeks pregnant with our sweet girl K! It's completely ubelievable and exciting that we only have about 12 weeks to go! (well, 13 technically, but i'm trying to think positive... sleeping at night is becoming an olympic event!).

follow that up with a new nephew last week! he was born september 10th to very happy parents and a very excited 4 year old big sister! of course, matt and i drove into raleigh for the day to be on hand for lots of love, snuggles, and pictures.

this weekend brought matt's ordination as youth pastor at our church, and the happy but big job of hostessing a lunch at our house for lots of extended family! it was great to have about 20 folks from both sides of the family gathered to celebrate matt and his accomplishments!

in the fray of it all, i had given up on trying to make the designer's downtown market happen on saturday as i had planned. i had to forfeit my entry fee, but after all the stressful planning all week and having a cold on top of it, i decided it was better to be able to stay home and get some rest rather than trying to make the second trip to raleigh. it ended up being a good call since we had so much more to do than we thought to get the last minute touches on the house and the food for the lunch party.

even though i felt like this would be the last craft show i could participate in (and definitely would have been at this point) and was very disappointed to miss it, i know that there will be some time in the future once i've adapted a bit to being a momma for more craft shows, and for the creative juices to keep flowing. in the meantime, i did make a sale to a family member for her christmas list... a necklace and a pair of earrings... and she picked out a lovely little pendant for herself as well! (i'm being a bit cryptic here to keep people's christmas surprises a surprise!) here are her selections:

my mission this week is to get all of these lovely items i had stocked up for the show posted in the shop and available for more christmas shopping pleasure! soon the shop will be all-new and i'll get petite bee nice and filled as well!

making progress!

i feel like i'm finally making some progress in the studio! i've finished several new necklaces, and revamped lots and lots of new earrings that just didn't quite seem done... they needed just a little kick, some oomph, a little spirit and a little more ellebee...

...but now i'm pretty happy with them! i can't wait to get these little guys up and going in the shop. it's going to be wonderful! lots and lots of new loveliness waiting to find a happy home. and oh, the feeling of accomplishement there will be when they are all finished, photographed, described, uploaded, and posted in the shop.

take a peek above, and you may notice i've also celebrated by making these little earring friends into a new blog banner! hurray!

i've had a fire under me to get things accomplished because i've signed up for september's installment of the designer's downtown market, which i'm very excited about. it will also most likely be my last craft show until baby k is born november-ish, except for possibly a fall fair i just heard about in asheboro in october. (which, after a quick google search, i think i may have found!)

august has absolutely flown by, and i'm grasping to get everything done that i wanted to. soon there will be the added pressure of getting things done before the baby arrives and completely upheaves our lives and hearts and schedules! i can't wait! so here's another little sneak preview of what is to come in my fall shop update, which i'm shooting for having done by september first!

happiness is...

happiness is a friend who will paint your toenails for no reason! (other than maybe that you're pregnant and can no longer entirely reach them!)

oh, and a sticker maker refill. that's pretty happy too!

the never-ending battle.

it's been a bit of a rough week here craft wise, trying to get my craft room organized, which always feels like a never-ending battle. i have so many ideas and new things i want to try, and things to get ready for september's downtown market, but i feel like i can't effectively do any of it until everything is organized. so half the time i either can't find something because it's still somewhere in the stacked up piles of not yet unpacked, or i know i've unpacked it but can't find it anywhere!

one of the things i'm most excited about is my 'new' bookshelf (new to me, but re-gifted so to speak from another room in the old house!).

it's obviously still a work in progress, but it is coming together pretty well, and i can picture in my head this vision of organized loveliness, where i can find everything i need right when i need it, and have weeded out all the things that i never use. that's really hard for me, because i seem to be a bit of a hoarder of supplies anyway, and then i've inherited a ton of great stuff from my mom when she passed away in january. in that vein, i've decided to start a secondary etsy shop to help pass on some of the supplies that have piled up that are perfectly great, but that i know i won't use. right now that shop is empty, but i hope to get it going by this fall (hopefully by the end of september).

studio supplies

my (somewhat lofty) goal as of right now, is to have my new fall products (a mini-revamp of the whole shop!) available by september 1st, and then unveil a completely new etsy shop specifically for petite bee (my baby products) and the studio shop both by mid-september.

i'm very excited about the new products i have lined up for ellebee this fall, lots more notecards, a few new petite cahiers, and plenty new jewelry of course! the jewelry is really exciting to me because it's where i've done the most experimentation with new techniques and i'm really proud of how it all turned out! i feel like come september, my shop will be much more cohesive and much more representative of what i really enjoy making! i can't wait for you all to see it!

for now, the entire shop is still completely on summer sale!