Amarillo Texas Photographer Bethany Fields

Heart Handmade Holiday Zine

Marichelle from  Heart Handmade has written up a wonderful holiday zine that you can download right to you computer!  It is filled with fun information, holiday tips and tricks, gift ideas, recipes and more.  I was asked to contribute a small portion and you can read about me in Part II of the download. (there are three parts in PDF form).  Fun holiday reading! 

A simple shout-out

to a neat girl I've been corresponding a bit with....Tsh over at SimpleMom.net.  I love her daily blog.  Her tips and tricks to simplify, simplify, simplify.  I like her blog so much so, if you look over at her recommended resources you'll see a little Christmas-y Annie and Olive button! :)  She's having a great giveaway right now of some fun reusable bags.  Check it out!! :)

teeny little bracelets

are such fun to make.  Hearing a little girl ooh and ahh over her new jewelry is so precious....there's (almost) nothing that makes me feel better than the blush on a face of a child who just loves her little piece of happiness...(being in Hawaii on a beach would make me feel really awesome, but for now, making things and loving on them is pretty darn good).

Home improvements abound, grocery store accomplished, laundry beckons.  Miss G asleep, dishwasher running, cool and beautiful day.   Parent-Teacher conference this morning that made me proud of my Colin, knowing he is so blessed to have an amazing teacher and we are so blessed to have such a good boy.  Little Benjamin at preschool, so cute in his own precious way....putting up backpacks and lunchboxes and "frog notebooks" and settling in to make a turkey with feathers that spells his name. 

In a while (after laundry is started and Miss G wakes up), back to the school to parent volunteer, stuff folders, and then back home for homework, playtime, snacktime, dinnertime, more laundry-time, basketball practice time, and finally, bedtime.  Thank you Lord!

Be my 800th!

Want to be my 800th sale?  If you are, you'll get your choice of free heart pendant in the shop!! :)  Just tell me which one you want in "messages to seller" at time of purchase..."

Edited to add:  Sold! ;)

Happy Rainy Day! (At least where I am anyway...)

There's no place like home...

 Still eating Halloween candy.  Snickers and Twix and Kit Kat are my favorite.  The kids love "Willy Wonka Nerds."  (C calls them that).  Miss G looked adorable as Miss Dorothy Gale...complete with puppy Toto, basket and (of course!) the Ruby Slippers.  I made the little apron and was proud of the way it turned out.  I'm generally not a sewer of clothing but of more random craft projects but it was fun for a change!  I used a sweet little puffy tanktop as the pattern and tried to remember tips from Costuming class in college.  Boys were Ironman (Colin) and Speed-Racer (Benjamin)...We had fun visiting my Grandpa and then visiting much-loved friends and family...the night didn't last long enough and everyone was exhausted and tired....toting home memories with much-earned candy.

It's about time!

  Here are the pictures from the show.  Had a ton of fun with my cheeks hurting by the end of the day with all the smiling.  Learned a lot and realized it wasn't nearly as hard or "scary" as I thought it would be.  Everyone was curious and complimentary.  Little girls flocked to my table like bees to honey. (Most of the time bringing their mom's or grandma's).  Set up a better display on Sunday than on Saturday....really studied the flow of traffic on the first day and then adjusted my heights.  Hung up more necklaces the second day (on the chains) and that drew a lot of people.  Gave out a lot of cards...talked a lot about Etsy!  My hearts were by far the most popular thing (as they are in the shop) with my clippies second and bracelets third.  Not very many people (actually only one person) had ever seen the fabric bracelet and so they were very curious about them.  One of my best compliments of the whole event was a volunteer for the show when I was setting up.  She saw that I sold on Etsy and she said "Oh, of course.  You just look like Etsy."  That made me feel great.