The Never-Ending Painting Adventure

I’ve been quite busy with having my home repainted.  It’s amazing how much stuff we’ve accumulated since we last painted 5 years ago.

The first thing to be painted were closets throughout the entire house.  Now granted, the closets didn’t need to be painted as the paint was still in great shape.  However, it gave me an opportunity to reorganize them all (and of course, I got to use my handy dandy label maker).  Although our house looked like a hurricane swept through, it was so worth it!

I can easily find items in my pantry and my linen closet never looked better.  I donated all my unwanted towels, sheets and placemats to a local animal shelter.  Now I have room to add new linens to match the new paint colors.

Marielle’s room is FINALLY finished (well, except for a few little odds and ends)!  I only have a few sneak peeks of her room as we are still trying to find space to store all her junk.

Not only did we paint the walls hot pink and most of the trim black, we even painted her vanilla-colored furniture white. Marielle suggested we do black velvet curtains.  But in the meantime, I ordered 2″ black aluminum blinds for her huge window (because we all know how long it will take me to sew her curtains…LOL).

I’ve been buying and hoarding anything zebra, hot pink and/or black for the last year.  My efforts have finally paid off.  Most of my best finds were at either HomeGoods, TJ Maxx or Marshall’s.  The hot pink lunch boxes were only $3.99 each.  And the zebra canisters were only a few bucks.  Oh and the hat box (which also has 4 coordinating big boxes) was only $5.99!  Score!

Check out this matching doll I bought while hunting for zebra items on Ebay!

Marielle asked that I stop buying anything with a zebra print on it as she thinks it’s starting to look like a zebra puked in her room…haha!

Since my darling daughter has a habit of writing on her closet walls (Marielle loves Anthony, Steven, Adam, Nick), we painted black chalkboard paint so we can just erase past boyfriends’ names instead of having to cross them out.  How clever am I?

Oh, speaking of closets, I caved in and got her 300 hot pink Huggable Hangers.  I absolutely LOVE these hangers (might have to buy them for every closet in the house).  The above hangers may not look hot pink, but they certainly are.  It’s pretty hard to get the correct color when editing photos of a black closet.

I purchased zebra light switch and outlet covers on Etsy.  Only problem is I ordered the wrong type outlet covers (I need the new rocker type covers).  So I’ll be doing a craft project this week–covering her old white outlet covers with some zebra wrapping paper and a little decoupage.  Wish me luck!

I found this cool zebra phone at Marshall’s for just $12.99.  Perfect!

This weekend I spent spray painting different things for her room in gloss black and semi-gloss white.  I had found this neat shelf (once gold) at TJ Maxx for a mere $12.99 last year.  The minute I saw it, I knew if turned upside down it would be a perfect bed crown for my daughter’s room.

A little black paint and now to find the zebra sheer fabric to attach to the bed crown which I have stashed somewhere in my sewing room…I’ll show you photos of it once I get it hung on the wall over her bed.  I’ve got to figure out a good way to attach the zebra sheers to the bottom of the new bed crown.  Any ideas?

I hadn’t finished spray painting Marielle’s light pink wicker rolling baskets when those two darn ducks took over the yard.  Yes, they’ve been coming to my yard every stinkin’ day to eat all my Koi fish food.  Any good ideas on how to get these ducks out of my yard once and for all?  It’s getting a little old chasing them around with a broom, KWIM?

Spring in the City

 

My sister, Laurie aka “Tess” is up visiting from North Carolina.  So she, Little Joey and I took a quick trip into the city.  Today we were adventurous…we took public transportation.  Glad we did as the crowd was crazy.  There were people everywhere!

 

First stop was the giant Toys R Us in Times Square where Laurie and Little Joey played Nintendo Wii Tennis on a huge plasma screen.  Check out the big Nintendo DS…what a great window display!

We then had a late lunch at HB Burger.  Wow!  What great cheese burgers and Vanilla Egg Creams!

 

Joey got a kick out of riding the subway.

Notice the Subway Emergency Evacuation sign?  Here in NYC, we’re prepared for everything.

We made it back to Staten Island just in time to see the beautiful sunset on the NYC skyline!

CPSIA Rally Video and Free CPSIA Graphics

Amend the CPSIA Rally Video from Dawn LaPolla on Vimeo.

Above is the video of the entire CPSIA Rally in DC last week.  Be prepared…it is LONG!  So grab yourself a cup of coffee…

Barbara Beck’s:  Scientific Testimony at CPSIA Rally

Here’s some fun CPSIA-inspired graphics for you.  Just right click your mouse over the image, copy and save…

Fabric.com Sew Much Fun Sweepstakes

Enter HERE!

Peaceful Easter Sunday

Woke up Sunday morning to find the local ducks eating all my Koi fish food…and of course I spent the day chasing them out of my pond…LOL!

Easter dinner was filet mignon and rib-eye steaks on the BBQ.  Only my Dad for dinner.  Marielle wasn’t feeling well (doctors believe she is in kidney rejection–though I’m not so sure) and my MIL is in the hospital with a bad heart.  So we kept it simple this year.

Did you know that Peeps have only 32 calories and 0 grams of fat?!  Peeps are a sure sign of Spring…especially the yellow bunny Peeps.

Guess what Mr. Diva™ decided to do?  Have the entire interior of our 3,800 square foot house painted!  Usually we have a team of painters come in and get the house painted within a week.  This time we are using one guy to do the entire job.  It will probably take at least a month…ugh!  But hopefully it will be worth it.

 

First up is Marielle’s lavender room.  We’re painting the walls hot pink and the trim black to match all her hot pink and zebra theme.

Also, we are having her vintage-looking Vanilla bedroom set painted white so it pops!

While the Sunshine Girl’s room is being painted, she’s taken over my Master Suite.  It looks like a bomb went off in my room!  She has already filled 4 garment racks just with her clothes!  And that doesn’t include all her dresser drawers.

I decided to go a darker color (rusty brown) in the living room and will be painting the hallways chocolate brown throughout the house.

The kitchen will go from a warm peachy color to a cinnamon rust shade.

But my favorite so far is the 1st floor bathroom.  I’ve been dying to get rid of the lavender.

 

I’ve chosen the prettiest tiffany blue paint for the walls.  In addition to tiffany blue bathroom accessories, I’ll add black and white, too. 

Guess I’d better get started on some matching curtains for all my new paint colors!

Hope you had a great Easter!

Downtown Joey Goes to CPSIA Rally in DC

 

On Wednesday (April 1st aka April Fool’s Day) I set out bright and early to fly from NYC to DC to attend the Amend the CPSIA Rally which was sponsored by many different groups.  A flight which should have taken a mere 40 minutes turned into an adventure…4 hours later I arrived at the US Capitol Building.

Although the cherry blossoms are beautiful in DC this time of year, the weather wasn’t great (cloudy skies and intermittent rain showers).  As I approached the Capitol Building, thousands of people were being evacuated!

I spotted Rachel Dressler-Sweetser of Monkey Baby who had a CPSIA sticker on her jacket.  I asked her what was going on.  Apparently, security found a suspicious package.  But she gave me her visitor’s pass and I snuck in the side door.

When I finally made it to the CPSIA Rally room, I could barely squeeze in.  Standing room only!

I listened to lots of great speakers from different industries and some elected officials.

Here’s video from Congressman Joe Barton (R-TX):

 

and another from Governor Engler:

After the Rally, we divided into groups to attend meetings with different legislators and their aides.  My group consisted of  Scott A. Cohn of Arent Fox, Jason Oliver of Oompa Toys and a few other gentlemen.

We trekked around to visit a few senator’s aides.  When we finished, my group spotted Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY and Vice Chairman of the Joint Economic Committee) and double-dog dared me to approach Schumer as he was getting on the elevator.

I figured since I was unsuccessful at getting an appointment with him or his aides, it was now or never.  Thank goodness I’m a New Yorker and have chutzpah (even though I’m a nice Irish/English gal).  I approached Senator Schumer and said, “Excuse me Senator.  I’m a New York children’s clothing manufacturer and I need help with the CPSIA.”  He told me to come with him and took me on a little elevator ride.

Senator Schumer was intrigued that my boys’ clothing line was manufacturer in New York City (my guess is most have their items manufactured abroad) and got a kick out of my boys’ jeans snap (which looks like a NYC manhole cover).

After discussing the issues surrounding the CPSIA and it’s effects on my business, Senator Schumer took out his cell phone and hooked me up with his Deputy Staff Director, Stacy Ettinger, telling her to meet with me now.  The Senator assured me they were working behind the scenes on this issue.  I told him we need Democrats to support this–plain and simple.

I immediately met up with Ms. Ettinger at his office–and what a breath of fresh air!  She was extremely well-versed about the CPSIA and it’s implications on children’s businesses.  She stated there had been a lot of support for the new CPSIA from consumer groups such as USPRIG and she needed to hear from others like me with real numbers (inventory loss, loss sales, business closings, etc.).  I provided here with the financial losses I’ve incurred and projected 3rd party testing costs in order to be in compliance.  I also supplied her with this blog post which lists the other companies that would be affected if I were to go out of business.

I must say I felt really good after meeting with Senator Schumer and Ms. Ettinger.  I do believe they “get it.”  I don’t think I was given the brush-off at all.  I left feeling that I had been heard and they were genuinely concerned.  However, I do believe that unless a Democrat introduces legislation to amend the CPSIA, the point is moot.  Unfortunately, although this should be a bi-partisan issue, it’s not–how sad.

 

Then I went to meet with Kathryn DiBitetto, Legislative Assistant to Congressman Michael McMahon’s (D-NY) office, who handles product safety issues.  Unfortunately, Congressman McMahon was voting at the House of Representatives.  I would have liked to see him as he was my personal injury lawyer years ago and is a fellow Staten Islander.  Ironically, McMahon won me the money which was used to start my boys’ clothing line.

Ms. DiBitetto (another Staten Island native) told me the Congressman was aware of the problems being caused by the CPSIA for local businesses.  She said he’s written the CPSC with concerns.  I explained that the CPSC could do nothing to change the law, but instead legislators would have to fix it.  I urged Ms. DiBitetto to ask Congressman McMahon to support any legislation to amend the CPSIA.  P.S. – Ms. DiBitetto loved my Downtown Joey clothing line!

I almost canceled my trip, because I had no one to watch my two children.  But then I thought about how hard my friends have fought the CPSIA and felt it was my responsibility to be there.  Kathleen, Rick, Rob, Jennifer, Olivia, Wacky Hermit, Whimsical Walney, Tristan, Deputy Headmistress, Handcraftivist, Jill, Cecilia, Walter, and Marianne have all fought the good fight while I was taking my daughter through a kidney transplant.  It’s was my turn to step up and be heard.  I am glad I went to the CPSIA Rally in DC!  It was a terrific experience. I’d like to thank all the folks who put together this rally in 2 short weeks.  YOU ROCK!

Here’s lots of great CPSIA commentary from around the web:

Learning Resources:  The Rally and the Democrats

Learning Resources:  A Quick Guide to What’s Wrong w/ the CPSIA

Overlawyered:  Things I Learned at the Rally

Wall Street Journal:  Obama Urged to Fill CPSC Post as Complaints Mount 

Women’s Wear Daily:  Kids’ Execs Rally Against Safety Law

Woman’s Wear Daily:  Businesses Seek Changes to Product Safety Act (subscription required)

Journal of Commerce:  Manufacturers Urge Change in Product Safety Law

Congressman Joe Barton:  Bill Fixes Mistakes in Toy Safety Law, Saves Small Shops from Bankruptcy

Publisher’s Weekly Addresses CPSIA Testing and Labeling Provisions

Polkadot Patch Baby:  CPSIA Rally is Over.  What Now?  Keep Spreading the Word

Why Congress Won’t Fix the CPSIA

Amend the CPSIA:  DeMint Amendment

The Common Room:  Myth Busting the Myth Busters – CPSIA

Alliance for Children’s Product Safety on CPSIA Rally

Tristan Benz:  CPSIA-If There Were a Time to Ask Questions, the Time is Now

Journal Sentinel:  Lead Law Leaves Small Businesses in a Lather

Crafty Baby:  Letter to President Obama

I returned home from DC to read that High Lead Levels found in my own town’s shoreline.  Lovely.  Do I need to be concerned about lead in my kids’ clothing when I’m living in a lead-filled city?!

Not to mention, our local landfill makes the news once again.

Lastly, I’ll leave you with some CPSIA inspired photos.  Feel free to use any of these around the web to help spread the word about the unintended consequences of the CPSIA:

With friendship,

Lisa

Easter Basket Sewing Tutorials and a Sweet SWAP

With Easter just one short week away, I thought I’d share some Easter Basket sewing tutorials found around the web:

J. Caroline Creative’s Easter Basket Tutorial

Dabbled’s How to Make a Fabric Basket

Retro Mama’s Fabric Easter Eggs

Embroidery Library’s Fabric Easter Basket Tutorial

Cranston Village’s Easter Bunny & Chick Baskets

Speaking of Easter Baskets…I received an awesome Easter SWAP from Heather of Little E Designs!

OMG!  I love the zebra basket!

Filled with all my favorite sweets…DOTS, Milk Duds, Yellow Bunnies PEEPS, caramel eggs and lots more!

Heather even made me an adorable bookmark!  Thanks Heather!