HEAT SWAP from the Best in the West!

Received a big box from Lady M™ (aka Myrinda) containing our latest SWAP of the Girls Night In Club.  WOW!  I got some GREAT stuff!  This time we hat to spell the word, “HEAT!”

H is for HANDMADE secret stash (black silk dupioni zippered case).

E is for EDIBLE–delicious Salted Caramel Sticks from Have It Sweet confections.

And Lady M™ added a little tag requesting I share it with Marielle.  Fat chance.  Sorry Myrinda!

A is for AROMA…my absolute favorite scented candle – Trapp’s Fresh Cut Tuberose!!!  Funny thing is Lady M™ posted on Facebook requesting help in finding Trapp candles.  I suggested she get them online where I buy my candles, but Myrinda insisted she needed them right away.  LOL…now I understand why!  She totally tricked me!  I had no idea it was for ME!

Would you believe her husband, Chops, found this for me?  Love that man!  I wasn’t sure if it was A for Aroma or E for Edible, because it’s both!  LOL!

T is for THRIFTED…OMG!  I love this wire dress form!!!  Lady M™ knows how much I LOVE dress forms!!!  PERFECT!

A big, big THANK YOU to my West Coast Counterpart!  Myrinda is just one of those people who really gets me.  You’re awesome Lady M™!

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?

Fabric.com Sew Much Fun Sweepstakes

Enter HERE!

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!

 

CPSIA–Just When You Thought it was Safe to Get Back to the Sewing Room…

UPDATED:  RECEIVED THE FOLLOWING GUIDE FROM THE CPSC AT 1:23 AM TODAY!:

Guidance on the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act (CPSIA) for Small Businesses, Resellers, Crafters, and Charities

Nothing like waiting until last minute?  Unbelievable!

Not sure how the rest of you feel, but this whole CPSIA stuff continues to mentally and physically DRAIN me!  I spend a tremendous amount of time reading, bewildered, rereading, twittering, disseminating information, testing, retesting, and banging my head against the wall.

It has all knocked the life out of me.  Some think it’s no big deal.  But the reality of it is another story.

Read the latest 7 items from the CPSC from this past Thursday and Friday.  Now before you get all excited and think you are off the hook, perhaps you should read some of the thoughts around the web:

Fashion-Incubator:  3 Days Until National Bankruptcy Day

Senator DeMint:  Congress Turns Toy Story into Nightmare for Small Business

Rick Woldenberg:  The Emperor Has No Clothes

Rick Woldenberg:  CPSC Commissioners Speak Out

Rick Woldenberg:  CPSIA More Serious Message

Overlawyered:  CPSIA Roulette

Overlawyered:  What Will Be Enforced?

Overlawyered:  CPSIA Fifty Stars and an Asterisk

Overlawyered:  CPSIA Chronicles February 10th

The Common Room:  There’s a Difference Between a Policy and a Law

The Common Room:  CPSIA and State Attorney General

The Common Room:  Open Letter to NRDC

Shopfloor:  Ambiguous Enforcement-Certain Disruption

CPSIA by Numbers (Part 1):  How Much Safer Will CPSIA Make Us?

CPSIA by Numbers (Part 2):Stochastic Approach

CPSIA by Numbers (Part 3):  Scary Sounding Chemicals

(Note:  Yes, I did eat the tires off my first carriage….LOL!)

Honestly, I don’t have a game plan yet.  I rented an XRF gun to lead test my boys’ clothing line and everything else in my sewing studio (over $400/day).  All fabrics, elastics and trims passed.  Problems occurred with some snaps and zipper heads (thankfully I have lead-free substitutes).  Not sure if the reflection of the silver on these items gave me false-positive results.  So what I’ll need to do now is have these items in question re-tested by a professional (more $$$).

But the good news is I can continue to sell for the next year.  Yet, unless the CPSC decides to allow component testing next year, my business won’t be able to survive the high cost of third-party lab testing.  Kathleen of Fashion-Incubator sums up how I feel.

With friendship,

Lisa

 

Valentine’s Day SWAP from My Favorite Craft Addict

Received a HUGE box yesterday from one of our newest members of our little secret society, Mary the Craft Addict!  So glad we let Mary come sit with us at the cool table…LOL!

Pure Valentine’s Day bliss!  Mary’s mission was to spell out the word HUGS!  However, each letter needed to meet a certain criteria (see below).

H is for HANDMADE tulle corsage heart.

U is for candle to USE.

G is for GOODIES to eat….mini moon pies!

S is for SOMETHING NEW to make me smile all day long.

Doesn’t Mary rock?  Thanks so much Mary!  You’re the best!

Mary was the lucky recipient of The Magic Box giveaway I had last year.  She and I became quick friends!  Over the last year, she and I have shared many phone calls–I can’t tell you how she cheered me on through the launch of Downtown Joey and my daughter’s transplant.  She is simply amazing.

Oh and it gets better!  Mary (of Georgia) is supposed to be up in my neck of the woods this weekend (Staten Island, NY).  Hopefully we can have bunch together on Sunday!

In the meantime, I need to find a gown for a formal affair on Friday night at the Rainbow Room in NYC and somehow sew/embroider a zillion baby gifts for my dear friend’s baby shower on Sunday afternoon.  Did I mention the kids are home due to snow/ice?

Design Your Own Ultimate Sewing Room Contest

C O N T E S T       H A S        E N D E D ! ! !

Can’t believe I forgot to mention this!  Have you entered the Fabric.com / Craft Stylish Ultimate Sewing Room Contest yet?  There’s over $7,000  in prizes!  Prizes include:

 

Fabric.com Shopping Card - Value – $1,500

Baby Lock Ellure Sewing Machine - Value – $2,499

Reliable Corporation IronMaven™ J490A - Value – $399

Reliable Corporation C81 – Vacuum & Up-Air Pressing Table - Value – $499

Fabulous Fit Dress Forms Pro Series® Misses Regular Form - Value – $687

Sylvia Sewing Cabinets Model 810 work table - Value – $1,099.95

American & Efird Mettler Thread 28 Spool Gift Pack- Value – $82.10

1-Year subscription to Threads magazine - Value – $32.95

Threads Fitting DVD Series - Value – $99.95

Threads Industry Insider Techniques Volume 1 & 2 - Value – $59.90

The Best of Threads DVD-ROM Volume 1 & 2 - Value – $99.90

Here’s the Official Rules.  Hurry–the contest end December 31, 2008!

Here are the two sewing room designs I entered:

Design Your Own Ultimate Sewing Room NOW!  Check out the sewing room gallery to see what others have created.  Creating a sewing room online is so simply—really.  Go do it now!  You never know if you’ll be one of the winners, KWIM?

HOT Holiday SWAP

There’s a bunch of us girls who last year formed a book club, Girls Night In.  Except, we soon discovered we really didn’t read much.  Instead, we had more fun doing SWAPS.

For this year’s Holiday SWAP, the mission was to spell out the word HOT.  The SWAP needed to have 3 things in it:

• H – Handmade Item
• O – Ornament
• T – Thrift Item

Some time ago, I nicknamed Amy—Applique Amy™ (even though some of her friends call her Alphabet Amy…LOL).  Amy is the Queen of Applique.  Her business, Tote and Tee, has a neat selection of custom initial tees, totes and other goodies.  I was thrilled to receive my SWAP from her!

First up, a handmade item with my initial!

Front:

Back:

Next, a hot pink DIVA ornament!  Yes, I do already have one, but I have another place for it!

Lastly, Amy found the coolest sewing thimble at a thrift store.  At first you might think this is just a thimble.

But think again.  It’s a large Shot Glass!  ROTFL!

Thank you Amy!  What a bunch of great surprises!  And yes, I’ve already eaten the chocolate and caramel you included in the box!

Sew Urgent – Help Save My Daughter’s Life

PLEASE SEE MOST RECENT UPDATE:

>>>>>>>>CLICK HERE<<<<<<<<<<

Things continue to be difficult.  But where there is life, there is hope. 

I’m forcing myself to blog so I can update all my dear friends and family about what is going on with my sweet Sunshine Girl, Marielle, as her kidneys fail.  It looks like we are on the way to the local emergency room again tonight–she’s in terrible pain and a bit lethargic.

After continued difficultly getting calls returned and kidney donor evaluation packages send to those who have come forward to donate their kidneys, we’ve given up on the Philadelphia hospital of ever finding a living kidney donor.  They’ve recently told us they will only test family members and the closest of friends.  They’ve taken it upon themselves to decide who our friends are.  Philadelphia has only tested 3 donors in 4 months.  To say I am furious is an understatement.

But there is hope.  We are in the process of transferring Marielle’s care to NY Presbyterian-Columbia University Hospital (NYP) in hopes their additional living-donor kidney programs will save her life.  Not only will NYP consider family members as donors, but are willing to evaluate EVERYONE (friends, associates and kind strangers) who wants to donate a kidney.  That’s right…EVERYONE regardless of blood type, antibody mismatch, age, etc.  They offer several kidney donor options for us:

Compatible Living Donor

Incompatible Donor Program

Paired Donor Exchange Program

Deceased Donor Program

Marielle will only match 1 in 50 people in the general population (average person matches 1 in 2). I  am asking EVERYONE who has ever loved a child as deeply as I do my daughter to please consider being a living-kidney donor to her. You might be the one who can save my daughter’s life.

If you would like to receive a donor consent form to see if you could be a potential donor, please print out this form:

kidneydonorquestionnaire

Then send it to Joan Kelly either by email at kellyja@nyp.org or fax (212) 305-9642.  Be sure to put MARIELLE CARROCCIO as the Potential Recipient’s Name.

Please pass this information along to anyone and everyone.

I continue to be comforted by the tremendous amount of love and support from all of you.  Thank you seems to fall short.

Happy Halloween

Missing My Clique

All my sewing buddies went to the Houston Quilt Market this past weekend.  I was teary-eyed when I received a call from Mary, Lady M™ (pictured above next to a DIVA license plate…LOL) and Sheree.  I’ll definitely be joining up with them at the next market!

I even missed my buddy, Diana’s, wedding the weekend before.  While she and Anthony exchanged vows on a boat cruising the New York Harbor, I was sitting outside the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia hoping the helicopters landing on the hospital roof might be the kidney my daughter so desperately needs.

I Can See Clearly Now

We made it back home early Tuesday night.  We drove about 100 miles back to our home in Staten Island, NY.  We started off at Exit 3 of the NJ Turnpike where there was a torrential downpour.  I got off at Exit 4 wondering how in the world I was going to drive in the terrible rain.  Marielle convinced me to get back on the Turnpike to beat the rush hour traffic.  When we got to Exit 5, I noticed the lighted driving advisory–CAUTION – SNOW AHEAD.  WTH?  Yep!  Here was heavy SNOW driving through PA and NJ.  Finally when we made it to our Exit (#10), the snow had turned back into rain.  What a LONG drive!

Still No Match

Yesterday we got the results of my youngest sister’s kidney donor testing–NOT a match.  To say we were all disappointed is an understatement.   I’m so proud of my sister as I know she was terrified at the thought of donating her kidney, but still was willing to do so.

My nephew is the next to be tested.  He should have his blood test tubes arrive by Monday.  Would you believe he just received his kidney donor evaluation package TODAY?!  He had requested it on October 9th!!!  The hospital admitted to sending it on October 17th.  Really?  You’d think they would speed the process along considering my daughter is in the final stage of kidney failure (she has just a mere 6% function left!!!).  Don’t they know how to use Federal Express?  Heck, what about USPS Priority Mail?  Guess not.

BOO SWAP

Moving along to happier things…When I returned home, I found a big box from Traci of Bloom Design filled with treasures of our BOO Swap!  YOU ROCK TRACI!  She sent all of my favorite things…

My first love….PEEPS and my 2nd favorite, DOTS!

Check out this awesome EYEBALL Truffle Lollipop!  ROTFL!

She even sent me a beautiful Halloween coffee mug…

and the coolest Skeleton Brew (aka Hot Chocolate)!

 

I laughed so hard when I saw the Potion Powders in 3 frightful flavors-Crushed Toads, Potion #13 and Eye of Newt!

But oh my!  The Lindt Chocolate Truffles filled with White Chocolate are too delicious to share!

Speaking of Halloween, because my daughter was hospitalized for a good part of this month, I never got around to putting out all my handmade ceramic Halloween decorations.  Not a single thing.

Mr. Diva™ offered to take the 5 huge Rubbermaid crates out of the attic and unwrap all of my precious decorations.  However, I’d cry if he broke any of them, so I passed on his offer (see last year’s disaster below).  This will ensure I will still have my complete collection of Halloween decorations next year, KWIM?  And the other good thing is I don’t have to pack them all back up tomorrow!  Perhaps I can get an early start of Christmas decorating…LOL!

 

Hope everyone gets plenty of sweets for Halloween!