Items in the running!

Seems that most of the choices are pointing to one of the following:

Chamomile Mini Pillow Set

Amy Butler Fabric - Daisy Chain in Silver 1/2 Yard Set

Blue Sky Mini Pillow

Keep ideas coming, I will be choosing the prize tomorrow night and posting it on Wednesday.

I love this bracelet!

Thanks to tweeting and blogging and the whole nine yards I found this little beauty in fellow Etsian shop, BlueberryCream.  I love the color!

Sterling and amazonite bracelet

Visit her blog, she's having a giveaway!

Gemstone Girl

Follow my blog give away!

I am working out the details of a "follow my blog giveaway".  I will be pulling something from one of my 3 Etsy shops as the prize.  I'd love your help in making that choice.  I want you to vote for the prize that I will give away.  

Finding an item and responding here with your suggestion gives you one entry.

Following my blog gives you another entry.

Following me on twitter gives you a 3rd entry.

Tweet about the giveaway and earn even more entries.

I will be posting the give away item as suggested by you in the middle of next week, say Wednesday.  Then you will have 3 days, Thurs, Fri, and Sat to earn more entries by the means listed above.

We'll see how it goes!  Should be fun!  Visit one of these three!

Fabric Flair    SimplicityInteriors    ByEveryWord

Home Decor Fabric Sale!

I am having a SALE at Fabric Flair.  There are tons of home decor weight fabrics on sale for a fraction of their retail price.  Fabrics that are normally $25-$35 per yard are drastically marked down to move them out.

Check them out!

Spotlight ESST: Beads and Such

It didn't take much searching to find so many amazing supplies in my fellow ESST members shops.  I will be the first to admit that I know nothing about beads or jewelry, but I think these are just beautiful.  They make me want to learn how to do something with them!

Melon Beads and Dahlia Cabochons from MK supplies

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 Czech Rondelle beads from Mountain Shadow Designs

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Mussel Shell Coin Drops from All Earrings and Supplies

I hope you enjoy looking around these shops as much as I have!

Office ideas from Better Homes and Gardens

During lunch I was flipping through a recent copy of Better Homes and Gardens that was lying on the table.  I found a decorating section that showed the office I am longing for.  So neat, so organized.  Look, they even have their fabric oh so neatly folded and stored.  Here's a copy of the entire page from May's issue.

It's so pretty and girly.  I wonder how long it would stay neat.

Organizationally Challenged!

It seems like every time I turn around I am having to reorganize my office.  It makes me nuts.  Week by week my life changes enough that I have to move everything here and there to suit what I am working on.  One thing I have found, there is no such thing as too much storage!

The one thing I am kinda proud about is having built my desk.  I began with one side of the room with a built in desk, where the computer sits, and a little white desk I got from Pier 1 ages ago.  I liked it, but it just wasn't functional.  So I decided to turn the other side of the room into an L-shaped work space.  It has made life much easier, but still isn't enough.  Here's a few pics.

My stores of fabric are exploding.  I am going to need to build up in order to get the storage I need.  Use that vertical space!

I was SUPPOSED to be able to use a chair in the corner, but as you can see my shipping supplies make that impossible.

Here you can see more of my supposed to be usable workspace.  Actually I should mention that no space can remain usable as long as you have a toddler whose reach is slowly extending and everything on the desk needs to be 18 inches from the edge, and the desk is only 24 inches deep.  Keeps things interesting

I have "tried" to keep him on his own side of the room.  But apparently my "toys" are much more interesting than his!  Not to mention that I have completely lost any storage ability on this side.

And then finally there is the built-in side of the room.  For some reason, this is the only side with overhead lighting.  It's nice and bright...even though it has no real workspace.  And here you can see my shelves that are in a constant state of being rearranged.  My husbands things have been banished to the small shelf in the top left side.  I'll have him pushed out soon...!

Waiting for fabric...

So I ordered a bunch of new fabrics well over a week ago and am still waiting for them to be delivered.  It's difficult to have to sit and wait when I really want to get them listed on Fabric Flair!

I was able to get to work on a few new things, however.  I just love these sets!

Joel Dewberry Manzanita patterns in espresso and sky

Another from Manzanita in pear

Another Joel Dewberry set from the Chestnut Hill collection

Balancing My Time!

Okay, so I am having a really difficult time balancing my time between blogging, twitter, my Etsy shops, and everything else life throws this way!  I'm wondering how others schedule their social networking time.  Especially if that networking is done mostly for promoting business.

So you set a schedule?  Do it when you can?  Plan a certain amount of time each day?  

I feel so far behind!

Here's a few of the things I have been working on lately.

Redesigning Simplicity Interiors to carry more contemporary fabrics.  

Adding to my collections at Fabric Flair.

And trying to be more creative at

Simplicity Interiors on Etsy.

Oh!  And adding some Father's Day pieces at

By Every Word!

Please share how on earth you

balance your time!

Bad, Bad, Bath! Take 4

One late night after the tiling was complete and we were at a standstill because we were waiting for the shower doors to be shipped, we found...you guessed it...another water problem.

Jason's closet is just outside the bathroom door.  We discovered that the carpet inside was sopping wet.  So Jason takes yet another trip down to the crawl space to check things out.  He finds a steady drip that appears to be coming from one of the pipes that leads up through the wall to either the shower head or the body sprays.  PANIC!

Why is the pipe behind the newly tiled wall leaking??  Why is the water spreading under the tile, across the floor, and into Jason's closet??  At 11pm, one doesn't expect to find answers to these questions easily.  Jason immediately called the contractor and left a message, and then turned off the water main to the house for the night to try to prevent further damage.

Problem solved...the contractor came back first thing in the morning and discovered that the water problem in Jason's closet was likely due to the amount of water he used to clean the tile the previous day.  Sounds like quite a bit of water to me, but that's what he said it was.  The dripping was caused by one of the body sprays.  None of the fittings were back on yet, and there was a small steady drip from the pipe directly down into the crawl space.  Easy fix, put the fitting on, and no more water leakage.

We ended the day feeling good that there were no major problems (our worst fear being that the shower would need to be torn apart to find the leak) but a little more frazzled and worse for wear.

Then I began to do the walls...