Peyton's Play Kitchen

Wow!! It is has been a long time since I have been on here to write a new post.  This past semester in school has been crazy for both me and my mom.  Now that my break is here though I have had some time to relax.  It is time to hit the pavement on making more products!!

I wrote earlier about making a play kitchen for Peyton out of an old entertainment center.  Well we got a late start but we finished most of it for her to play with on Christmas Eve!!  This picture isn't great but will have to do for now.  I will take some better pictures with my brand new camera that I got for Christmas.

Still on the to do list for the play kitchen:

- add curtains to the window

- add curtains under the sink

- add hooks to hang utensils and pot holder

- get another burner for stove

What a Week!!

Last week was a crazy week and I'm not too hopeful for next week.  We planned a field trip for our first graders on Monday to a place called Mainstay Farm.  They will get to see a real working farm, make their own scarecrow, and play in a huge treehouse!  But we didn't know if we would actually be able to go until Friday.  Our district came out with new rules for field trips and gave them out last week.  We already had everything in line with permission slips and money.  Then we found out we had to email someone else in the district to get their approval.  It all worked out in the end though and I hope the kids have a blast.

Next week will be crazy too!  We have the field trip on Monday, then I am out Thursday and Friday for a conference.  I am going to a literacy conference that I will be presenting at during one of the breakout sessions.  My friend was originally suppose to present, but found out she had to be somewhere else so she asked me if I wanted the opportunity.  I was so excited to get the chance to present and put this on my resume.  But I am also terrified because I have never presented in front of this many people before.  Hopefully everything goes smooth!

Pinterest Thursday

One of the blogs that I read regularly does this every Thursday and I love looking at the different projects that people try from pinterest.  I have finally had time to try one of the thing off of my craft ideas board.  I found these no sew fabric flowers

http://www.rufflesandstuff.com/2011/05/no-sew-fabric-flower-tutorial.html

I decided to give them a try because we are in the process of making some skirts and dresses for our Etsy shop.  We are wanting to add them to outfit as a matching accessory. Here is the flower that I made.

 I will definitely be making more of these flowers for headbands.  Peyton will have one to match every outfit :)

Check out more projects at this link party!

Cook Children's Visit

Peyton, my mom, and me all had the day off on Monday or Columbus Day. Unfortunately we had to spend about half the day at Cook Children's. Peyton had to have a procedure done. It was not much fun listening to her scream and there was nothing I could do about. However, they have recently finished some of their renovations. They have completely redone the cafeteria, added a Build-a-Bear, and built an indoor playground that is awesome. So after were finished we went to make Peyton a monkey and then played in the Pirate's Cove.

Then we went to the cafeteria and had Chick-Fil-A and banana pudding. Well, Peyton mostly had banana pudding!! By the time that we left, she had completely forgotten about the procedure and was in the best mood.

New Items in Etsy Shop

We have worked hard on adding more items to the shop and we have listed 5 more things this weekend!  We are really excited about the new direction that we are heading with some of the items we will be selling.  We are going to be adding more gift sets to the store next weekend! 

Check it out at http://www.etsy.com/listing/82503995/baby-boy-gift-set-brown-orange-blue-and

The Deal With Etsy Treasury Lists

I absolutely LOVE to make treasury lists.  I think it is so fun to look at the daily trends and come up with my own interpretation and then looking through all the items to decide which will go perfectly together.  When we first opened our Etsy shop this was one of the ways that was suggested for getting your shop name out there and increasing the number of views to your page.  I can definitely see how being in a treasury is helpful for increasing views, but I have not seen the benefit of making them.

I recently made a treasury list that seemed to have the perfect formula for Hotness!  I made it at about 6:00 pm and by the next morning it had over 1000 views! I couldn't believe it! So I would have thought that I would have had some sort of increase in the amount of people that visited my store.  However, I only had 13 shop views for the whole day!

We have recently redone all of our photos so I am hoping that maybe we will get selected to be in some treasury lists.  I will not stop making treasuries because I do really enjoy it, but I am curious if making treasuries has helped your Etsy shop.  If they have helped you leave a comment to tell how.

survey solutions

Inspired for Peyton's Christmas

I was playing around on Etsy and looking at some different blogs the other night and I have decided what we are doing for Peyton's Christmas.  I was inspired by this picture from http://giggleberrycreations.blogspot.com/2009/11/millas-kitchen-handmade-by-papa-grandma.html

They started with a TV entertainment center and finished with this!  I have found the perfect entertainment center for this project and this is going to be Peyton's Christmas present.  I sure hope that we can make it happen.  Check back to see our progress!!  We are going to get the entertainment center tomorrow!

Bloody Mary Treasury List

I can remember, as a teenager, talking about this game every year at Halloween time.  My girlfriends and I would go in the bathroom and say we were going to play, but none of us ever could go through with it!  One of the trending tags for today is SPOOKY.  So this is my take on that:

'Bloody Mary.....Bloody Mary......dare I say it again?' by LittleBunnySueSue

a hand painted MAGI... touchsoul $12.80	Black lace gloves y... yasoknitting $15.00	Pocket Mirror "... solocosmo $8.50
Shard Mirror Mask F... maskupnet $79.50	Victorian Style Bla... LaVieilleLune $18.00	Mirror Mirror 8x8 s... kclarkphotogra... $20.00
1DaySALE Fantasy Ar... BestArtStudios... $9.00	Black water cover r... GearForms $145.00	Black Crow Art on v... MariasIdeasArt $23.00
Large Abstract Artw... NathalieVan $265.00	PRINTABLE FULL PART... lovetheday $15.00	Red Mirror Hollywoo... RococoDecor $148.00
Red Enameled Heart ... BeadSwedeSuppl... $8.00	Black mirror white ... ArtByAfton $10.00	Lip Gloss Red Hot R... opheliasapothe... $12.75
Squid Attack Tee / ... TeeShirtGnome $25.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

The Best Words a Teacher Could Hear

Last Friday was one of the best days I have had in my teaching career.  One of my students struggles with his attitude and does not like coming to school.  He comes in the classroom with a scowl on his face.

But that all changed with a simple book....

All of the students were reading to themselves and I was walking around the room listening to them.  One of my students kept saying that he didn't know how to read so I sat down with him to show him that he was a reader.  After a little guidance, he was flying through the book.  The rest of the day his confidence was boosted and you could tell just by looking at him.

During our writing time, he was sitting at his table working and humming to himself.  I asked him what he was so happy about and he said....

"I am starting to love school."

National Talk Like a Pirate Day

September 19^th is International Talk Like a Pirate Day.  I have always loved reading picture books to my students that have pirates because the voices of the character are so much fun to do!!  A friend of mine then told me about International Talk Like a Pirate Day and I started saving my pirate books for this day.  The kids absolutely love it every year. 

In honor of this very awesome day, we have added some items to our Etsy shop that your little one can wear to celebrate with you!  

You can also check out this website to see how this day all got started. http://www.talklikeapirate.com/about.html

First Week of School

WoW!! It has been a crazy couple of weeks, but I have survived another first week of school.  I wasn't sure if my room was ever going to be ready for the kids.  Normally we get into our classrooms the week before all the teachers are suppose to be back, but this year we couldn't get in.  So we only had 2 teacher workdays to get everything together and do lesson plans.

Monday morning came, though and I had to be ready because my kids were coming :)
I am so excited for this year and I am already in love with my students.  They are so sweet and fun!

We haven't been able to do much with out Etsy store because all of our time was spent on my classroom, so we finally got back to getting things made this weekend.  My mom and I worked all weekend long getting things to put on Etsy.

Check back later this week for some of our new items!

Back from Vacation

After a long week of driving, I am glad to be back home to sleep in my own bed.  Colorado was absolutely gorgeous and everyone had a blast.  I was so surprised at how well Peyton did on her first road trip.  The first leg of our trip was 9 1/2 hours long!

We stopped in Raton, NM fort the night and boy was Peyton excited to be out of her car seat!  We weren't sure if she was going to go back to sleep or not.  But once we turned off the lights...we were all fast asleep!

We woke up the next morning and headed to Durango, CO.  This part of the trip was a 6 hour drive but it the scenery was great and so different than here in Texas!  When we pulled in, we stopped at the visitors place that had a great playground for Peyton to run around and stretch her legs.  We had barely seen Durango and we were already in awe!

Going on Vacation

We are getting ready for Peyton's very first road trip.  Mike, me, and Peyton will be leaving Tuesday afternoon to head towards Pagosa Springs.  Then we will meet my parents in Manitou Springs later in the week.  I am super excited about the beautiful pictures and memories that we will create together.  Check back for updates on our adventures :)

Allison

Cute 2 Sophisticated Featured Us!

Check out Cute 2 Sophisticated's blog.  They have featured our shop today! Share it with your friends.

http://cute2sophisticated.blogspot.com/p/featured-seller-of-week.html

It's All About Coral

'Is Coral the New Pink?' by LittleBunnySueSue

I absolutely love this color! Don't forget to make this a favorite and leave a comment!!

Creamy White Rose, Fres... kookime $19.00	Underwater Sea Coral Co... pixiepixels $38.85	Coral Flamingo Veiled F... talulahblue $46.00
Coral Crochet Lace Trim... thebeige $46.00	Coral and Purple Wrap B... khaber13 $25.00	Coral Crush Mineral Lip... BLSoaps $9.95
Organic Onesie with han... GrowingUpWild $35.00	luna rope necklace (cor... GOLDhearted $40.00	Modern Boutique Burp Cl... poshhouseorigi... $18.00
Abstract modern pink bi... eeliethel $20.00	3 BRIDESMAIDS - (CHOOSE... MEJCollection $96.00	Cheerful Cherry Quartz ... GEMLYNN $29.00
Kindle 3 cover- Frog Pr... beesocks $23.99	Always Kiss Me Goodnigh... TypePosters $15.00	SALE More Colors. Coral... Chicabootique $19.99
SALE Handcrafted genuin... chicleather $129.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

This is my newest treasury list.  I think this is my favorite so far!  I especially love the coral dress.