Everyone's Off

My babies left yesturday for Tahoe with J for a week. They will be joing the rest of J's family for a reunion. It was hard to see them go. Last week I packed them presents to take to open every other day and a little scrap book for each of them with pictures of myself with them that I have been taking for a few weeks. These are pics of special outings that I have had with each of them.

Beech at Jeffrys

Beech and Mom out to lunch

Annie and mommy got our nails done --these are annies little manicured hands

these are the scrap books I sent them to tahoe with. They have lots of pictures of us in them...just in case...

Tomorrow I am off to have my surgery. I have a cyst in the bone in my face. It is from having lots of surgery and trauma in that area to repair a severe cleft lip and palate. This will be #17. Dr. S has to remove the cyst and do some grafts to rebuild the area on the left side of my face. Then he will also repair an area in my palate that is collapsing because of the cyst. I had a surgery several years ago where they put in titanim plates, now tomorrow they will take them out--Dr. S says I do not need them anymore. Last he has to graft some cartilage from my ear to rebuild my nose where the cyst was. So, I guess I can say "everyone's off". I already miss my babies and I am looking forward to my call from them tonight. As far as my journey being born cleft affected...well it has been a long one I guess, but I have been way more fortunate than most to have such an amazing mom who has been my care taker, the march of dimes(in the early years) and Dr. S...one person who has dedicated his entire life to helping people like myself and I got to have him as a doctor...who gets that lucky?

Operation Bobo

Well I have a top secret mission going on in my life, it is "Operation Bobo". Bobo is code for Teacher Sara who is part of my family. Bobo and I met literally on a blind date several years ago, well we hit it off and never looked back--the dearest of friends we became! Anyway, she has supported me over the years with so many things--pregnancies, miscarriages, births of my children, Beech's medical stuff--she has been there and now it is my turn! I could not be more excited, she is having her first baby--a girl and I am hosting her shower and I just get to watch her enjoy prepping the babies nursery with Mike and simply getting ready to be a new momma!--Since Bobo reads this little blog....I can't say much about the shower...but here is a little peek at the invitations that went out recently!  I'd love to take credit for the idea behind the invitations, but I found the idea on this darling blog, here is the link http://ohbrooke.com/2010/05/11/cute-as-a-button-baby-shower/

I have loved every minute of planning "Operation Bobo" so far--it is easy because she is so special!

Bobo and Beech 2005 (photo by Pamela J)

We spent the weekend in Murphys CA. It was a beautiful, family filled weekend. It meant more to me than most because next week I am having some surgery and my amazing husband is taking the kids to tahoe while I recover. Since I have never been away from the kids for very long--this weekend was filled with me watching them more closely and mentally capturing memories of them.

Story and Cuddle Time

The Murphys Rubber Ducky Races

Our first row boat ride...it is not as easy as it looks....

joe cool relaxing boat side

Beech and mommy drivin'

The car ride home...."hey mom take a picture of me doing this..."

This is my beautiful J--the love of my life and best friend ever!

Now I am off this week to go have some tests, pre-op apts and all that jazz....

My idea of a self portrait before my next visit with Dr. S who has performed at least 10 of my reconstructive surgeries. This is an article that was done on one of the surgeries he did on my cleft lip/palate back in the late 8o's. It is from the Stanford Medical Journal

A Little Family Time...

No MAD Sewing...for a while at least....

Well we are off to the Rubber Ducky Races today up in Murphys CA. So I will not be doing any sewing for a few days. It has been a busy few days doing lots of MAD catch up, so I am ready to just spend some time with my little duckies! Have a lovely weekend.

Pictures, Pictures, Pictures

Just a quick note. I have been working on photographing my little aprons for the past week. I am now 3 cans of paint into it and not much further down the road. I have shot some of my aprons outside--the natural light is so beautiful!

I have found a nice spot in our yard, but I don't really think it goes with the aprons. I am often taking photos at night(when the kiddos are sleeping). So, then I tried to re-create a back drop for my aprons that I had at christmas.One of the craft shows I did--the paint color really brought out my aprons--it is by farrow and ball, Lamp room Grey. Here are some pix...they are my favorite of all that I have taken. I did not take these, a friend Amy K was nice enough to snap them.

So I have tried to recreate this look--but I am afraid it is not working.

my pictures still seem dark and overcast like. I did try another back ground a few months ago that seemed to be ok--I did not love it, but I was still able to use it. Here it is...

Now I just have to figure out which seems to be the best back drop for these little aprons and ...stick to it.

Give Away Winner

So Rebecca from rockknitmomme http://www.etsy.com/shop/rockknitmomme is a good friend of mine and fellow etsian. She has a darling shop on Etsy of charming hand knit hats and tutus. I have purchased some of her work for my little Annie and she always recieves compliments. We met doing a craft show together last year. Anyway, Rebecca has a lovely blog http://knittersplayground.wordpress.com/ with great "Bloggable Moments" and a terriffic shop on Etsy...it is a perfect place to shop for a darling gift for someone special in your life. Thanks Rebecca for sharing your bloggable moment about your kids! I will mail out your Give Away prize today--a little pink and chocolate brown half apron...to add to your collection!

Thanks again for participating!

Xo Vanny

Adventures in Organizing...Again? and Again....

I have been working on my little studio since last night. I was up late, late, late just organizing. Since my studio is in my house it is really easy to get lazy about keeping it organized, but if I don't I really suffer and shoot myself in the foot. I think the challenge is when I am in the middle of a project, I tend to let the other things go--packagine, trims, stamps can all become a jumbled mess if I am in a hurry. So, I spent some time hanging a peg board for pre-packaged aprons, organizing my packaging and labels and simply cleaning up. I wish I could remember this feeling the next time I am in the middle of a craft show deadline and harness the powers that be so that I am more careful about taking things out and putting them away--one thing at a time. Anyway, I think if I have to do these major clean-ups enough, I will get sick of it and hopefully work harder all of the time to be organized.

Some good things have come out of it though--I created a new place to photograph my little aprons ( the feather grey is the back drop).

changed my packaging thanks to a new client(I was inspired)

 and added a new color to my color--Ben Moores "feather grey" it is very pretty and works nicely with the hot pink. http://www.myperfectcolor.com/Benjamin-Moore-2127-60-Feather-Gray-p/mpc0004912.htm
All in all, it has been productive and I like the place my organizing adventure brought me to, now...if I can just keep things this tidy!

Bloggable Moments Give Away

A few days ago I picked up the latest copy of Somerset Life http://www.somersetlifemagazine.com/ I love all of the Somerset magazines because they are so pretty. Anyway, I read a lovely article by Susan Tuttle, A Room of Ones Own. She has a gorgeous blog at .http://ilkasattic.blogspot.com/ I appreciated the messages in this article so much because she talks about "seeking Bloggable Moments" She writes, "there is something special about experiencing something with the intention of blogging about it."...."Reflecting on these moments and blogging about them extracts and captures the very essence of these experiences and in turn, enriches your everyday experience." She is bringing to light that the act of blogging can make us more connected to the the things we do everyday that we might miss out on--perhaps because of the pace we move at or simply life getting in the way. She eloquently put into words what I have experienced from blogging--which started somewhat by accident for me. But, it is true I do feel more connected to the journey I am on. When I am out with my family and I see something beautiful about them--i mentally catalog it and know that at some point later that day or week, I will find some quiet time to write about that moment and see where the meaning behind that moment takes me. Plus, there is the added benefit of being able to go back and re-read some of my past blog entries, it is like a very cool diary.

Anyway, I decided that I wanted to do a little give away in honor of Susan Tuttle's lovely blog post and message--Capturing Bloggable Moments. So, all you need to do is leave a short comment about your favorite Bloggable Moment that you have blogged about. I will be giving away a One Size girls pink/brown half apron in yummy, sugar pink cupcake fabric and a darling little pot holder to match--for special little one in your life. I will mail the apron set to the owner of the comment I pick out of a hat on Sunday evening.

So, leave your best bloggable moment to date in a comment and inspire others to start blogging! And throw your name in a hat for a little apron set.

A Little Creative Break

It is funny. Sometimes I need to take a creative break from creating. I was supposed to be in Petaluma today, but my trip was rescheduled. So I settled in to work on MAD Stitches aprons. I needed to do some packaging and othe MAD stuff. But...I just did not feel like it. It seemed like I had no motivation. I have been at this juncture before and usually if I try to force it and work through it(barring a craft show deadline) I just can't. So, I think I just needed to sew for me and for fun, not for MAD Stitches. I decided to make myself a new apron to wear in my studio. I never know what mood I will be in, so I knew I wanted it to be reversible. I justed used some extra fabric I had and some trim. I cut out a simple style apron. I had fun making it and I know I will enjoy wearing it, since I often wear them when I work. I do feel a little better, I am still in a rut though. I think it is just being a bit tired and I know it will pass. Anyway, here are some pix of my new reversible apron.