And here I am!

http://www.chic-treats.com/

That is the web location for my brick and mortar location. I have arrived! Ok, sort of.

Chic Treats Boutique is a store located in Oxford, MA on 2 Millbury Blvd. If you go and visit the site, you will see that Melody has a store JAM packed with amazing stuff by all kinds of wonderful artisans. (.. I do so love that term.. and I love considering myself as an 'artisan')

If you scroll down on this page, you'll find my own little corner of ChicTreats. I have a lovely white wash wicker armoire of creations and one of a kinds. It's exciting and prideful all in one.

I have some craft fairs coming up in Nov/Dec and am trying to get ready for that, add things to my etsy, add things to my Chic Treats Boutique location, make Lil Lady her fall wardrobe, fill custom orders and try to stop running off with my "craft ADD"!!

I seemingly get very hooked on an idea, make it a bundle of times, don't do much else, and then run off to the next thing! Right now, I'm loving this hat pattern I've found. Pics below.

Rainy Weekend

Isn't this the first weekend of fall? Bring in the rain! What up wit dat? Ok ok, I can't exactly pull off talking like that but hey, in blogland, I can do as I please!

So with the crummy weather comes crummy pictures! LOL

Here's the story...
I 'won' an auction on my favorite sewing place for this really "HTF" (that's 'hard to find' for your newbies out there ;-) ) fabric called, of all things, Icky Baby. Take a look at it, it's pretty cute. What it is not is easy to match! Sheesh! So I land a rust colored knit from JoAnn's red tag(clearance) section and it's a go!
And, for the record, if I'm going to spend $11 a YARD on a fabric, I'd better be making one my dear ones something with it! So I cut an Olivia dress on Friday night and early on Saturday morning, I sew up a rust colored and Icky Baby Olivia for Lil Lady. I even lined the hood which was tre cool UNTIL I am putting it together and find out that I cut the coveted Icky baby in the wrong direction, it won't stretch and, holy crap!, she'd better be able to get that over her head!

Well, here's the result-- a dress that she can get on but can't exactly wear the hood, sleeves that were WAY too long (what was I thinking?) but that she loves that way, and I (totally inadvertantly) cut the pocket with the two cute beaver guys right at the top and directly in the middle making it look like I did it on purpose and making it an extra notch on the cuteness scale.

Below you will find crummy rainy day pictures of a 5 y/o girl discovering the joy of an "Empty 3 player" (say it aloud and then laugh with me here!)

Creating

I've gotten a chance here and there to sew. Here are a few of my latest creations:

An amazing criss cross pinafore. Sheesh, if I'd only started to REALLY sew sooner! Lil Lady could have been in stuff like this!! Isn't it precious? And it's reversible!

I had a chance to really be inspired and dig into some of my favorite fabrics. The retro paper dolls is just adorable, isn't it? Here's a sister matchy outfit with reversible headband.

And, thirdly, a wonderful crayon tote. I've seen these made and wasn't thrilled with them until I realized my Michael Miller dragonflies with TWO fantastic coordinates (can't see the inside bluish purple with white dots) just is fabulous together!

I made one for Lil Lady, of course, worked out the kinks ;-) and then put one in my etsy shop! I'm going to have a good time with these at the fairs this fall!

I'm taking a chance here...

.. my local friends may just storm my house to get at this breakfast today!

Cinnamon Filled Scones-- From my King Arthur's Whole Grain Baking cookbook. Highly recommended!! I'll post the recipe soon.

Breakfast

I love to see blogs where they put those wonderful little pictures in, get all one wordy and eloquent and life looks like a basket of roses and freshly picked strawberries..


So here's my attempt at such a thing:




Freshly baked apple crumble, our special dessert plates, and wonderful blue hydrangeas from my front yard.



The kids, being SO silly, rapping and jamming or something...??

And, yes, that's my oldest, making an appearance at the breakfast table.

It was a fun attempt at freshly baked apple crumble and cut hydrangeas anyway .. lol

And the winner is....

.. Alicia! It is a baby in a blanket! I love Lil Lady's creations of swaddled babies!

Thanks for all your entries. It was fun to see how creative you all are with your ideas.

~Happy Birthday to me~
;-)~

My First Contest!

I'm back online!!

I can't think of a better reason to have a contest!

In the previous post, I mentioned Lil lady's playdo creation.

What do you think it is? Post your guess and if there's more than one 'winner', I'll do a drawing.

The prize will be chosen by the winner. The choices are:

1. a jewelry roll-- love these things!! Great for travel or a gift for someone who loves to *bling*

2. a brand new vintage flatsheet-- retro to beat all retro!

3. a yard of Robert Kaufman's drag racing fabric-- comic strip look!

I look forward to reading your ideas! Voting starts... NOW!

Voting closes on Saturday, Sept 6th. MY BIRTHDAY! ;-)~