What I have been doing

 Mouse in a tin

 Squirrels

 So many giraffes

 Making my daughter drawing into a doll

 Owls coming out of my ears

Bats










All of these and so much more can be found in our Etsy store www.stagiworks.etsy.com

New items and sales

 So many new things coming to both shop keep your eyes peeled for the new things, new prices and specials.

Look at this lumber Jack doll

 New clutches I started making. I challenged myself and look I did it. I also got and offer for a shop to sell these besides my own YAY.

 A bunch of new patterns coming to the shop.

Look at this cutie I love the vibrant color!












So keep checking both shops everyday for new, up-cycled and great deals everyday. Right now you can get 40% off when you use the code HOTDAY at www.projectrandom.etsy.com and 30% off using code HOTDAYS at www.stagiworks.etsy.com.

My craft space

Here is my craft space I have been wanting to post pictures right when I moved but life happens and this is when I got around to it. 

Here is the table my husband and I built together. We bought the top laminate piece from Home Depot and used old kitchen cabinets to hold it up. We went back and forth many time as to how to put it together, functionality etc. Below you can see my littlest one has claimed under the table as her club house.

This is where the sewing magic happens. I got this table from my dad and have hauled it with me for years and I am so happy I finally get to use it for my sewing. The bins below hold felt and odd and ends of fabric. The cabinet all the way on the left holds all my pretty fabric, I realize now I should have opened it.

My cutting tools, decorations from the kids.

My books, some embroidery thread, and my lovely metal box that holds all my buttons and misc.

This is my ironing table area. I used to do most of my creating here and have everything all over the counters but now that I have the table I have more space to lat out fabric.

On the other end of the garage, aka my craft room, is my husbands area. Just so you don't think I have all the room in this house taken up my husband does have a whole building to himself on one end of our property, we are just waiting for our landlord to put power out there.

 Well thats it, my craft space. I see all these pictures of cute craft rooms and get so many ideas but I cant make it work in this space. I one day hope to move into the house and have one of the bedrooms for my space. As for now I am very blessed and fortunate to have this bit of space. I am also very, very blessed to have a husband who understands my creativity, and how therapeutic my crafts are for me. Thanks Babe!

Have a good day all!!

Whats for dinner? We are having homemade chicken strips, mashed potatoes and green beans.

Goals???

                                                                   Goals


 So how has your new year been so far? Ours has been good. Have you kept up with your goals? 

You can read about my goals here in this post. We have been doing very well with some and maybe not with others.

We haven't eaten fast food at all!! YAY!!

I cant report if I have lost any weight yet I do not want to weigh myself until March. 

I haven't been blogging twice a week and I am working on that now!

Exercise well lets see that depends on how you look at it, do you count raking the yard? Cleaning a house moving for 3 straight hours? I have been doing these kinds of things, does that count?

 200 sales in my Etsy shop I am on my way I am currently at 133.

Four more houses to clean I am still working on this, and had some things come up that actually might work out better, I will tell you more about that later.

20 doll sales- I have been working very hard making and creating new dolls as soon as I finish them I will post pictures, one of them will be for sale.

Whats for dinner? We are having Tacos yum!

New Dolls

I made my nephews dolls for Christmas take a look.

Newest creation

 So you all know I have been experimenting with making dolls here it the latest one. I find myself talking to the dolls as I create them, trying to give them a name and personality. I got the pattern from Wendy of Shiny Happy World. I love her shop!

The instructions were easy to follow with some experience in sewing. My oldest daughter fell in love and now wants to make her friends dolls for Christmas, good practice for me I guess. :)

 I have made a couple other dolls, not picture worthy in my opinion. But I am getting some great ideas for other ones.
I was obsessed with dolls when I was younger up until I had my first child. I think it might be my caretaker personality. I love making a doll knowing it will be some young girls best friend, secret holder, pal and comfort.

Just wanted to let you all know I am still here working away!! 

Whats for dinner? Tonight I think we will have Sausage with pasta and salad. 

Sadness and Joy

This last month has been chaotic to say the least, truck broke, plumbing is freaking out here, hubs went back to work, I could go on. Last week was an eye opening experience for myself. My 14 year old daughter had a plan to commit suicide. As a parent you dont want to receive a couple of different phone calls and this was one of them from the school counselor. I happen to be at a doctor appointment with my husband so I met the officer and the principal at the behavioral health center with my daughter. I was going through so many emotions and as I got closer to the door I almost burst into tears. We had to wait to see her, seemed like forever but it was only 15 minutes or so. The first thing she said was "wheres Steve?" I hugged her, held her and let her cry and listened to her apologize over and over again. After 7 hours of sitting in a small room and feeling like rats in a cage the ambulance came to take her for a 72 hour hold. When the ambulance drove away I broke down walking to the car feeling helpless and worried for her. The next few days were filled with a range of emotions and trying to make life feel normal for the rest of my children. We got the news we were able to pick her up on Thanksgiving morning. When the elevator opened she looked at us and said "I missed you guys" it was only me and Steve there to take her home she was feeling much better. She is bipolar and just cant control certain thoughts in her brain sometimes, so now with hopefully the right medications and therapy she will get the help she needs. 

All that being said over the last few months I have been struggling with what is my role in life, what am I here to do, whats my great work? Like a ton of bricks hit me yesterday morning I realized I am here to help her get through this time in her life. I worried so much when I stopped babysitting to clean houses I wasn't doing enough for my family, contributing financially. Cleaning houses has given me more time to take her to appointments and work on my sewing projects. I knew when I had kids I am the primary caregiver to them and I always would be, I would also do any thing for them. The over whelming feeling of I am doing this right and I am where I am supposed to be right now feels good. We still worry about money, bills, rent etc but that's life for us right now I don't want to be the person with all the fancy cars, clothes, cell phone etc. we have just what we need and are making it work. 
So Thanksgiving last week was a very good day with the family and many thanks to all of them for support and guidance love you guys!

Whats for dinner??? Turkey Alfredo yummmmmm..

Estate Sale

So earlier last week I read in the paper there was an Estate sale for a woman who had passed in the next town over. I ask my sister Melissa you wanna go? We make our plans and she picks me up on Saturday morning at 7:45 and we head off. To my surprise there is a line down the sidewalk. When we are all let into this womans yard people start shoving, running and being so rude. Of course I am here like everyone else to get things to put in my shop. With all the chaos I end up standing next to a women who I look at and say this is so crazy, she agrees and explains to me she went to school with the son of the woman who passed and everyone knew she had nice things. I told her well I guess that's why we are all here but people can still be respectful of her things and to her son, who was the cashier. I also mention things are priced way to cheap, she said I was sweet and we shook hands. I make my way through all the people to find my sister who is digging through 2 storage containers of purses. We look at each other and get in line to pay. When we pay I tell the son I am sorry for his loss and he said thank you very much, I felt like I caught him off guard in a good way though. Then he tells me the box with all the salt and pepper shakers I was buying was one of his mothers favorite collections.


When we were younger my father would buy all the contents of a house after a person has passed. He always taught us be kind to the people, respectful of their situation and always remember they took a lifetime to collect these things. I guess a lot of other people dont feel the same way.

So here is what I picked up

I really liked this older doll, I am so curious about her story I guess I will have to make one up. Well thats all for now..

Whats for dinner?  We are having leftovers...

Doll Speak

They are like the old song you hear on the radio that takes you back to those hot summer days when you've played hard all day, you can barely keep your eyes open to eat dinner and then you crawl into your nice cool sheets. Inside that bed is the soft friend with the crooked smile and button eyes who knows all your childhood secrets. You wrap you arm around your doll, telling her or him what you really think of brussel sprouts while drifting off to sleep.
That same doll sits on your bed everyday waiting for you to come home from school to hear about your day. You can love them, squeeze them, kiss them and in some cases pinch them if you must!

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