Sugar Shop

Wicked Party Favors

No not wicked as in cool, Wicked as in the Play! A couple of weeks ago the girls in my family along with by 13 year old cousin (a boy) went to go see it. OH-EM-G! if you have not seen the play you must!!

Wizard of Oz has always been my absolute favorite movie. When I was little girl circa 1979-1980 we hadn't yet gotten our first VCR nor did we have The movie channels like HBO yet, no videos lying around to watch at will. But.... but... Once a year, on a very special Sunday evening they would play the Wizard of Oz on the television. 

I remember waiting and waiting for that Sunday to come and my mom would make sure that my bath was already taken and she'd put pot pies in the oven a total treat for us ( I also waited and waited the eternity it took for pot pies to cook prior to the microwave oven) wow I'm just in my (late) thirties and my early childhood was in the techno stone ages, I mean we did have Atari, holla! but still. Anyway, I would put on my night gown and grab my Dukes of Hazzard sleeping bag and strawberry shortcake pillow and wait... and oh was it worth it. Then it would be over and I'd realize I'd have to wait a whole 'nother year. *sigh* 

When the Wizard of Oz fabric collection was released I bought, I bought it all people there have been FOUR lines of it so far. And then we decided to go see Wicked and I wanted to make something for my mom, sister, cousin and neice and couldn't wait to dig in.

So I made these little zipper bags! And when I found out my cousin Tammy was bringing Shane I made him this one.

Skateboards are a bit more Man'ly don't you think? He said he was going to put his PS2 games in it, cool.

Have you seen Wicked? If so, did you not love it? I loooooved it and would go see it again. For Xmas two years ago my mom bought me the special edition double DVD set of Wizard of Oz. It is still unopened because I haven't seen it in years and wanted to wait 'til Jumpy Kid was old enough to watch it with. He's seven now and I think we're ready, I mean the kid loved Pirates of the Caribbean and that was scarry although the Oz monkeys could give Pirates a run for the money!

I'm just say'in :)

Embroidery & Crocheted flowers

Another thing to do whilst sitting by the fire... hand embroidery. I love using "whilst". I would never use it whilst talking in real life though. wait what was I talking about ? Does anyone else feel like they have a million "to do" lists flying around in their head this time of year. Like whilst you are talking to someone about something and you start thinking about those lists in your head and forget that you are supposed to be listening to the person talking to you? I don't even know if I'm using "whilst" properly. When is it appropriate to use "whilst" instead of "while" and why do we have two words for the same thing anyway? Ah man, forgive me , these are usually the thoughts in my head that I keep to myself.... What was I talking about? Oh yes, hand embroidery. 

whew, are you still here with me?This is what happens when I tell my self not to edit my thoughts...just type, no time for silly things like "think before you speak". So! to embroider on this fabric I traced the design on to the fabric with that embroidery carbon paper stuff and I have to say.. it kinda sucks. My hand hurt from having to press so hard to get the design to transfer. Anyone have a better idea? I have seen some kind of pens for this sort of thing but not sure if they work good. Thanks for your help. I love you man!

Guess what's coming up? EEEks! I can't wait!... The Shopping Day. Tara and I have already begun texting eachother (more than normal anyway) about the day. Now if you read about it last year you know that this is seriously one of the days that I look forward to most (aside from the actual Christmas Day and fun stuff with the kiddo of course). I don't think I can pin point exactly why it is such a fareak'en fun day. Maybe because you know how fun it is to go to lunch or dinner with a girlfriend? Well we tell the husbands, mothers, dogs, neighbors, strangers basically anyone who'll listen to us that we are OFF the grid for the entire day! And when I say the entire day I mean the entire day which for some reason is really hard for peeps to grasp. Every year Tara and I have to put on our Super Girls shields to deflect all the evil that try to destroy our day. Ok that is slightly dramatic but this is how it usually goes:

 "well can't you guys just be home by eight so we can..... " "NOPE!" 

" but you guys are...just...shopping right? Can't you just..."   "AH! AH! NOPE!"

"do you really need to go all..... "YEP!"

"while you are out can you run by... and take care of..... "NOOOOOOoooooooo! NOPE!"

Dammit it takes a lot of work to be UNplanned! It actually has become part of the charm and fun for this Holy day of ours, it actually makes us giggle now as we enter the week of the shopping day. We're like "Wait for it...Wait for it" and then we start sending each other texts like "don't crack, keep strong sucka!" 

The rules and structure for are day are as follows:

1. No times set (except for what time one of us picks the other up in the a.m.)
2. Breakfast
3. Coffee (although Tara suggested we start with Bloody Mary's... hmmm, it is a virtual meal, no? 
4. shopping (laughing our arses off) 
5. lunch (more laughing... getting Slap Happy at this point) if you don't know what Slap Happy is.. see below.
6. shopping (this is usually the point where we are laughing and calling each other a dumbass because one of us has tripped, knocked something over, said something really stupid in front of someone... basically one or both of us has made an ass out of our selves at this point.
7. Dinner 
8. Shopping 
9. Drinks 
10. Shopping 

  So... if you can, grab a girlfriend and tell everyone around you that you are going to be off the grid from morning "til bedtime, that they must only contact you if a trip to the E.R is necessary. 

If case you are not familiar with the term I'm here to help a sista out.

Definition:

slap happy
	term used to describe one's mood when sleep deprived or tired. Signs of being 'slap happy' include inane rambling, strange remarks, odd random behavior (such as giving oneself a wedgie), uncontrollable laughter at one's own jokes. Bob is slap happy today because he was out late last night. Merry Christmas, Love, Super Girl

  

I'm a Happy Hooker

....sorry, I couldn't help it. I made this little bag from the Stitch & Bitch Happy Hooker Book. 

A girls gotta have something to do while her boys are watching their man shows at night. Jumpy kid and Steve are such gear heads... I love it. They have been longtime fans of MythBusters and now they are loving Time Warp . Who can blame them, the guys on these shows get to do crazy experiments with what seems like unlimited funds! Anyway, I love the shows too but I can't just sit and watch TV anymore and my favorite thing is to be on the couch with the boys with the fire going. So I picked up a copy of the happy hooker and set out to make this bag. It was so easy to make I had to share with you. So, do you have something that you have made from a book or a free tutorial? Leave a comment and share your favorite thing you have made recently, we all need gift ideas don't we? If you have blogged about it on your site feel free to put your link in the comments! Happy Hooking! again sorry, couldn't resist.  :)

It's Time!

The title for this post is so perfect in so many ways!

It's time.....to announce the winner of the give away.

It's time..... to reveal what I've been up to.

It's time...... is the name of the Hospital bag that I designed for a major baby product company The Peanut Shell!

So it started with a random meeting. Actually Steve and I were signing up Jumpy Kid for baseball early one morning in the spring and I met a mom about my age (Hi Jill!) and she asked where I got my bag. (The black and white Nanny Bag) when she said that she loved it Steve actually gave me a shove and rolled his eyes because I had been getting the same response everywhere we went and I kept procrastinating about opening a shop. I told her that I had made it and we started talking and I was telling her my story and she said it sounded very similar to how this friend of hers started her company only she was selling baby slings and that if I wrote down my blog address she would pass it on.

I wrote down the address and never thought about it again. About a month later I received and email from Alicia the owner The Peanut Shell and she mentioned that she was interested in my designing a diaper bag for her company and possibly photographing her upcoming catalog.

I thought Oooh fun! I get to combine my two loves. Photography and fabric! I checked out her website and Loved the baby slings she had designed and thought this will be a fun little project.

This is Alicia in a shot that I did for the catalog....

We instantly clicked and after talking we realized we HAD to work together. She was taking her company in a new direction and was looking for someone to add to the team that shared her same vision from a design perspective. With both of us being business owners and designers we could have sat for hours talking about new ideas!

Oh, and after she mentioned something about her Babies R Us account in an email. I think I stared at the screen, cocked my head to one side and thought... Huh? Wuh? and so I Googled The Peanut Shell and realized that The Peanut Shell was sold in oh.... just
Babies R Us, Target, Nordstrom, Macy's and a million high end baby boutiques. I kind of realized then that this wasn't going to be a fun LITTLE project. This was going to be a Big Ass fun Amazing opportunity project. And it has been let me tell you!

We are currently collaborating on a collection of baby products that I am designing that will be manufactured! We leave on Saturday for the ABC trade show in Vegas where I will go as her new designer. The ABC show is the show for the entire baby product industry. We are being taken by limo to the airport and tomorrow we have a Pedicure meeting! Working with her will not suck at all.

Oh and the super hot mama in the photos holding my bags is of course my foot model and BFF Tara. Let me just share with you what an amazing friend and support system she is for me. Oh, and she is wearing a fake baby bump for the shoot. THAT is a true friend!

There is so much more to share and I will if you are interested. Let me just tell you all how amazing and inspiring you all have been to me and how FUN this little contest has been. I won't get too sappy because if I do then I'll have to punch you in the arm or something...but.... THANK YOU. So many of you guessed that I was pregnant and while sadly I'm not.....yet. It touched me that so many of you would be excited for me if that would have been my news! Thank you for that and now I know that if that becomes the case I will be so sharing it with my homegirls here! I loved how some of you got silly with your guesses (I would totally have done that too) one of my favorites was that I was designing a bag for the Queen! lol.

Ok Ok....the winner. I did the Random.org thing and..........

Giabella Designs!

Woohoooooo!

So now my coming soon shop button is replaced with the Peanut shell button on the top right!

Thanks for playing along!

xoxo
Dena

Cherry Rockstar

Do you ever make something and then hate it....then love it....then hate it ... lose all perspective and put it away 'cause ya can't look at it anymore, and then someone else likes it and you go okay maybe I do like it? Well that was this bag.

It's a little different than my usual and it was just a test so it not a perfect construction. When I started gathering up the nanny bag and the Wonderland bag for the shoot. Tara pointed to the rockstar bag and said "what about that one" what? That one? Nahh I don't like it. She said she did and that she had some cute shoes that would look good with it. Okay, so when we started shooting it I started to like it. Tara even said that normally she wouldn't rock a bag like this but she wanted it. So guess what T, it's yours. Only you would have pink and green plaid heels that would make this bag look cute. LOL!

It's bigger than it looks...

Hi there, just popping in, I re-shot the Wonderland Bag

The photos in that post made the bag look teeny so I thought I'd re-shoot to show how big this baby is.

see these...

These are bags in the works. I knew you wouldn't believe me if I didn't show proof!

It was Crazy Hair Day at school on Friday, so Thursday night Steve and I took the little guy to the beauty supply to pick out hair paint (he picked blue and green... Seattle Seahawks colors... there was some serious father - son pride at that moment). We checked out and the young girl at the counter said Omigod where did you get your bag? I think Steve actually elbowed me in the ribs and rolled his eyes. So this weekend I made some good head way into cutting a bunch of bags.

I won't be making any patterns at this time. I just don't have the first clue about how to do that. I have a notebook of graph paper that I sketch everything into and then I wright the measurements which get crossed out and re-written until it works. I will just be making bags to put in the shop. I'm not saying never. Just not at the moment. :)

See you soon. Hope you all have a great week!!

The Nanny Bag

First I want to thank all my sweet blogg'en friends for your emails and comments. I haven't been keeping up as much as I want to, but I'm back now... hopefully with more regular posts! Your comments mean so much to me and keep me inspired for sure! In fact I was about to hop in to bed and watch the American Idol premier (the bad singing is the good part, I could totally be on American Idol as one of the bad singers) and I hopped on to check emails and had a blog buddy email to say where have you been? Thanks Sue Ann! For you, I Tivo'ed A.I. and went to the sewing room and shot the bag detail shots (which have held me up on this post) and got to post'en!

This is the Nanny bag. It's exactly the same as the Governess Bag only smaller. The Governess bag is HUGE. The Nanny bag is still plenty big but a bit more manageable. There are pockets all around... inside and out. There are snaps on the sides to make it even bigger when you just have to much junk in your trunk. lol .

I love that we can take my buddy Jennifer's Sis Boom Fabrics and mix the old with the new. Just a reminder to check out her flickr group Sis Boom Sightings. I have more to come. Thanks for hang'en around. Oh, be sure to let me know what you think of this one!

Wonderland

Here is another Governess bag. I think I may change the name to Busy Bag because This Bag has been seriously busy. I really need to put something in it to show how big it is. Perfect size for a busy chick. I loaded it with stuff for the airplane to take to Disney World, I loaded it with stuff to take to my moms for thanksgiving, I took it with me to Target this morning and had a girl run up and say "excuse me can I ask where you got your bag?" that was fun. As I sat waiting for our flight to begin boarding the week before last I looked around at the women and their bags. Coach, Coach and more Coach! It was everywhere. I was very pleased to not have a coach, My Bag was different and I liked that. A lot. :)

This bag was made from some vintage Alice in Wonderland fabric that I've had stashed for a couple of years. I thought it would make a great diaper bag. Here is the front...

and the back...

and here it is with the side snaps opened for full capacity.

I thought the Chocolate Lollipop fabrics went perfectly! OK the boys are calling me to go watch Jurassic Park on the new HDTV widescreen that Steve and I bought at 5am on Friday. Yes We were temporarily insane but we actually had fun. I'll have to tell you about that, pretty funny.

The Governess Bag

Here is the first design of my collection ((giggle)). I don't know why, but it makes me crack up to say that I have a collection but really I don't know what else to call it. Is there a non-pro term for this? I decided a while ago that I wanted to design a series of bags. For a long time I have been stumped on what to create. I kept trying to think...what do people need, what do people want, what hasn't been done already and I was coming up with a big fat nothing. Why? I have never had a problem before and then it dawned on me. I have never designed for anyone before. I have just designed for myself and people seem to like what I like. Duh!

So I started thinking...what do I need, what do I want, what haven't I done before. and the ideas started flowing and the sketches and lists came. I think I originally came up with 9 things. My goal is to create each one and then make 3 or 4 with different fabrics.

So here is the first off my list: the Governess

I'm excited about this bag. I love it. This bag is huge! I needed a bag to throw things in. The idea for this came when I was getting ready for Elegantly Dead Dinner Party and I had nothing cute to throw my make-up and extra clothes and shoes in. Nothing big enough anyway. So I set out to make something big and cute. I think it turned out around 23" wide x 11.5" high and 11" deep. I put snaps on the sides to give it a bit more style when it wasn't stuffed but if needed you can unsnap and fit a small kitchen sink in it. lol.

My first name for the bag was the Venti bag, you know like the gigantic drink size from Starbucks. I have a thing for the name because I always order a VEN-TEE and then hear them repeat back to me VEN-TAY. The word Venti is the italian word for 20 as in 20oz of coffee and it is pronounced VEN-TEE. The spanish version of twenty is spelled Veinte which is pronounced with a -TAY on the end. Anyway, I googled and somebody is already calling there bag that. When I looked at the pic of my bag with my fave Mary Jane heels above it reminded me of a governess or nanny bag. I will making a few more of these for the shop in a variety of fabrics. Let me know what you think. This one is mine and will be boarding the airplane with us choc full of reading and other entertainment as we head of to Disney World on Monday!

Sis Boom Sightings

Hey all you Sis Boom fabric fans head over to Sis Boom Sightings a new Flickr group that Miss Jennifer Paganelli has started for all to post pictures of all the pretties made with her fabrics!