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Friday, January 28, 2011

Life ramblings...

It's amazing how fast time flies... I notice it week-to-week.... How quickly each weekend gets here, and then how that weekend goes by even faster and next thing I know, it's another week again.

Funny how much I want Fridays to get here for the weekend... but I hate how fast time is going by too fast. My little newborn is 15 months old already, and this year, my oldest will turn 9. How did that happen? It is almost unfathomable to me that I can be the mother of a 9-year-old. Then again, I often feel like I've been a mom forever.

Sometimes, the day-to-day routine really gets to me, and this week is one of those weeks. Dishes, laundry, pick up the same toys over and over again! Ahh! But, I know I wouldn't truly be happy doing anything else. Well, that's not completely true. I wouldn't say no to a maid to do the dishes and laundry so I could just play with the kiddos all day, and get a nap here and there... :)

Whenever I'm starting to feel down about the "boring" stay-at-home mom activities I remind myself how blessed I am, not only to stay home, but that my children are healthy other than the normal colds here and there.

I know this blog entry is pretty boring, but these are just some current thoughts I thought I'd commit to print.

Wednesday, January 12, 2011

15% off EVERYTHING! Huge sale!

Handmade For You By Me is having a storewide 15% off everything sale!! And, get two items embroidered, the third is FREE!!

On top of that - spend $75 and get FREE shipping!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Winners from the 1,000 Fan Fun Celebration

Congratulations to all the winners! Thank you SO much to EVERYONE that participated - the sponsors and the fans!! :)

Also, a special thank you to my husband who let me be undisturbed for HOURS at a time so I could get all the work done on this. Not sure I could have gotten it done without him! ;)


  • Authorized Disney Vacation Planner (Mary Davis) - Kandace Ritter
  • Beau-Tulle-Ful-Tutus - Mike-Shannon Alexander
  • Blooming Bums - Jd Drencheck-scavo
  • Centless Deals - Stacee Gentry Froning
  • Chelsea's Crocheted Creations - Jodi Kendrick Trinklein & Jessica Conkey
  • Creations By Theresa - Trisha Rebhuhn Wieber
  • Delaynie Cooper Designs - Melissa Speegle
  • Dove Chocolate Discoveries (Peggy Cioch) - Jenn Oldaker
  • ELLAgant Bows & More - Alina Widener
  • Earlooms by Heidi - Caroline Guf
  • Fabulous Family Reviews - Jenn Akin
  • Handmade For You By Me $10 store credit - Shari Gross
  • Handmade For You By Me - Embroidery (I accidentally did this one twice, so now there are 4 winners instead of 2!! oops!) :) Winners are: Anne Perry, Wendy Walts Riding, Courtni Darpino, Frances J Chelf
  • Handmade For You By Me - $5 store credit - Jaqueline Pollard - McDonough
  • Handmade For You By Me cloth diaper - Matt Kindley
  • Handmade For You By Me Ribbi Bibbi - Stacie Gerlach Leatherberry
  • Handmade For You By Me Unloopedee-loo mini - Lynette Trease
  • Handmade For You By Me clippies - Jenni Jeske
  • Jessa's Sunshine Crochet Owl Hat - Chelsea Harper
  • Lil' Ladybug Charms - Kristie Davis
  • Love Jessica Always - Gladys Parker
  • Mama and More - Kelly Woods
  • Manda Kay's Creations (Zebra Hairpin) - Jody Henderson Hickok
  • Manda Kay's Creations (Twisted Pin) - Sarah Rhoton Ruseell
  • Maybe Kinda Crafty - Chrissie Braddock
  • MommyCart - Shannon Barnes
  • My 3 Girls Bowtique - Linda Trinklein
  • My Angels Bows Boutique - Rachel Young
  • Pali Jewels - Malika Liggin
  • Psychic Myriam - Jessica Conkey
  • The Happy Scrappin' Mom - Crystal Calhoun-Mccord
  • Thirty One Gifts (Tasha Posey) - Ashley Brouillette
  • Tiny Toe Creations - Kim Champion Barnes
  • 

Saturday, January 8, 2011

The Cloth Diaper Decision

I've had several requests to post about cloth diapering, so here goes just a little bit about how my decision to use cloth came about.

I didn't cloth diaper until my 3rd baby, born in 2009.

I DID think about them with my first born... but back then (well, ALL the way back to 2002, ha ha) I thought all they were was Gerber prefolds, pins and plastic pants from Wal-Mart. In my defense, we tried those. Not for long, that's for sure. They didn't work at all (for us, I've heard of people making it work) so disposables it was! Those Gerber prefolds made GREAT burp cloths! :) And sometimes I used plastic pants over those disposables to hold in blow outs!

I don't want to play the young card, but I was very young when I had my first baby, and VERY naive, I admit that openly. I was overwhelmed and couldn't handle "one more thing" on my plate than I already had. Internet then, at least for me, was not what it is now. Anytime anyone has a question now, you just pop it into Google. I barely used email back in '02.

When I became pregnant with my 3rd baby, somehow I got to looking into cloth diapers. My sister (in law... but is it necessary to clarify that?) used them on my nephew who was born back in 2007 which I'm sure planted the "bug" in my mind about them. I thought she was crazy when I heard she was going to use them, then I saw what they were now-a-days and how awesome they were!

My SIL graciously offered her diapers for our use and I was so excited about that! I got into really researching cloth... it got exciting. They were so cute! There were so many different kinds! And then I found the informative articles that really made me think - even if cloth diapers are HARD (which they aren't) we HAVE to use them. What is in disposables make me sick to my stomach and I honestly worry about what they possibly have done to my other two children for being in them all the time for 2-3 years. Then throw on top of that how long disposables take to decompose (500 years)... and the thought that any disposable that's ever been used still hasn't decomposed yet... gross. I already was going "greener" using reusable shopping bags, recycling everything possible, using mostly unpaper towels (except for contaminating items like chicken goo...), so why wouldn't I make probably the biggest leap I could by using cloth diapers??

My husband was a little hesitant at first when I said I wanted to use cloth diapers, but he came around easily when I started showing him everything (and him knowing we were getting a lot of them free to use from my SIL).

The next thing for me was the feeling of being overwhelmed. There were so many choices, so many different styles, so many different websites... what to pick and then, what if I didn't like it?

I found a cloth diapering board on Babycenter.com and oh my goodness - it was a lifesaver. There were other expectant moms with millions of questions like me, asking questions I couldn't think of how to put into words... I saw someone recommend a "try it for $10 program" and was so intrigued... I found it at Jillian's Drawers (.com). I was so anxious to cloth diaper I went ahead and ordered it even though I was so early in the pregnancy I didn't even know if I was having a boy or girl. I just couldn't wait to have my hands on some fluffy mail! I asked my goddaughter's mom if I could borrow (aka babysit) her baby and try out cloth diapers on her, and she was okay with it. It was pretty funny - I didn't have a clue what I was doing - I put a Thirsties Fab Fitted on without a cover for a nap. That was a MESS. :) But I was hooked already, in those 4 cloth diaper changes in just a matter of one day.

That was the beginning of my cloth diaper addiction. :)

SALES!!

Handmade For You By Me is having a FAN SALE-A-BRATION to celebrate having over 1,000 fans! Buy any 3 bibs (similar fabrics/style - Ribbi Bibbi included) get one FREE with FREE name embroidery!! Good 1-8-11 to 1-10-11.

Email your order to handmadebymeforyou@gmail.com

Giveaways! Jan 7th to Jan 9th!! :)

There is a HUGE 1,000 fan appreciation giveaway going on at the Sew Blessed Essentials Facebook page, Handmade For You By Me!! There are currently at least 34 prizes to be won!!

I'm really working at getting this to be a more active blog, so some ideas are welcome. :)

Thank you so much to all my supporters getting me now over 1,300 followers on Facebook. I can't believe I have that many, and I'm honestly just stunned.

Good luck in winning your favorite prize!!