New (Pink!) Little Monster

The world is home to one more little monster, this one hott pink cashmere!

She now has a new home with a very sweet one-year old, named Sage. Sebastien and I went to Bremerton (Washington) with his parents this past weekend to celebrate Sage's big day with Sebastien's sister Vanessa, her husband Dennis, and their wonderful son. It was such a fun weekend, and I hope this cute monster can bring even more fun to Sage in her NEXT year!

Vanessa threw a wonderful party, with lots of kids and treats and flowers (it was a garden party theme).

It was awesome to go and meet so many new people, and be able to hang out with family for the weekend. I especially loved watching Sage and "Brother" (this sweet little boy's name for the time being) flirt with one another too!

Who Are the People in Your Neighborhood....We're the People that You Meet Each Day

I am excited for spring weather to come! We have seen glimpses of the sun, but winter here means rain, and don't get out of the house nearly as much as I would like (although the wet weather is such a nice opportunity to stay indoors and work on projects).

I am REALLY excited to start taking advantage of our neighborhood this spring, because it is fabulous. We have a great, design-y sewing shop a few streets over (with a fun yarn store next to it), and a couple little row of fun restaurants and bars in every direction.

Two blocks away is a hip little area with an Irish bar, a low-key beer bar, two coffee shops*, a garden store, a New Orleans-style restaurant, and a sweet wine shop (Gem Wine Cellar). A block up from that is Whole Foods.

I am really excited to be in such a hip little hood, and be able to be car-less for a little bit longer (we will likely have to get one, if Sebastien gets a job in wine country).

*If we want coffee in our neighborhood , we head the other direction to Extracto. It is delicious and super cute.

Re-Gifting Made Nice (8 Reusable Gift Bags)

I started with an idea from a friend. Then I moved onto this sketch:

From there, it was just pretty fabric, and some sewing. The bags virtually made themselves!**

These are the first three I made. I really love how they turned out.

These five are a different pattern. I don't think the bags are as elegant as the ones in the first few pictures. The sewing did go much faster, and I was happy to get through all these bags in a relatively short amount of time!

Another friend asked for a rush job on Christmas Eve Eve, making 10 wine bags (from the green, orange and red polka dot fabric above) for their annual Christmas party. It was a challenge to fit it in (and get all my own presents finished in time), but it was worth it. Everyone apparently love their bags!

What did you use to wrap your presents this year? (Check out this lady's awesome little touches to her gifts - maybe next year....)

I guess in the same way that the cobbler's kids had no shoes, the reusable giftbag maker's Christmas presents were wrapped in paper this year. Next year, hopefully I can do projects for myself, too!

**This is not true. While it is a pretty simple project, unfortunately the bags DID NOT make themselves.

December Calling - Shall I Put You Through?

As many of you know, our December was a tad bit difficult, so as the saying goes, Sebastien and I made lemon curd from the lemons (isn't that it?).

Short story long - after moving back to Portland in the beginning of November, I miraculously got a job with a great office within a month. That is very good. Then my job got a little sidetracked (distant past - I LOVE my office now!). Basically though, for December we landed in a new apartment, with lots of time and very little money. We started S'ope's Creations, and were off to the races! It turned out to be a GREAT time to start a little side business, and it kept us very happy, healthy (we would have gone a little crazy, me thinks!), and slightly more flush. Here is one of the fun projects we worked on in December (this particular project was making 17 bags of granola and 2 jars of lemon curd for a friend to give to family and work clients):

counting up each type of granola and lemon curd

We had a choice of Apricot-Ginger Pecan, Blueberry Almond, or Cranberry Walnut Granolas.

Back on the Horse

I haven't posted in a while; I think I've needed a break. I HAVE, however, been very productive. I am going to post some of my recent project photos (and some photos of our home), while I get back into this "blogging thing."

Tomorrow; tomorrow I shall post pictures. Tonight I worked on some sewing, and some RELAXING.