La la la

Today feels like a singing day, doesn't it? A day to "la la la" along to the tune of everything.

 I'm feeling better. The munchkin's feeling better. I got lots of goodies over the weekend. It just feels happy and "spring"y, I guess.

 

These are some of the yummy fabrics I've swapped for over the past little bit of time. Aren't they fab?? The little stacks in the upper right hand corner are my haul from the two I Spy swaps I joined and the Polka Dot Charm Swap that was hosted by Jennifer at Knotted Thread. I am silly-excited about making an I Spy quilt even though Maze is WAY too young to play along.

 No. Your eyes are not deceiving you. I swapped for lots of "boy" prints, but I just want you to know, I am NOT pregnant. Just thought I'd shoot that horse in the face before it came charging around the corner. No. I am just collecting prints should I need to make a baby boy blanket or burp cloth or boyish things (which has come up more than once). Don't wish another child on me just yet. I will hunt you down.

 



How beautiful is this Kindle cover?! I mean, holy crap. This beauty was made by Jennie over at Clover and Violet. We decided to swap pretties after discussing how much we really liked each other's creations. I get this gorgeous (and embroidered with butterflies! WHAT?!) Kindle cover and she gets one of my infinity scarves, which I showed you here.

 

Speaking of butterflies, I've been making some. Yay! Notice how I can't get away from anyone? Take, for example, my dogs who photo bomb every picture I take. And Maze, who was doing this while I tried to take that ONE PICTURE:

 


Help me. My mommy doesn't love me. And I don't have enough toys. And mom only gave me oatmeal and a bottle for breakfast and I wanted apples. And My toes are hot. And my Suzie dolly looked at me wrong. And all the pictures should be of me. I'm the baby! I'm the cute one. Whine. Whine. Whine.



Yeah. Not winning any prettiest baby awards with that face, Darlin'.

 So I laid her down for a nap. Out in two seconds, flat.

Then, since I had a little down time this morning, I decided to try to figure out this whole Google+ vs. Picnik thing and I think I may have signed up for something I didn't want. Now it appears as though all my pictures from my blog are being uploaded into my Google+ account, which is fine, but it scares me a bit since deleting a photo from Google+ will delete it from your blog as well. All I really want to do is put my "Mommy For Reals" at the bottom of the pictures so people will know the origin of the photos if they find it on, say... Pinterest? And I would also like to have an easy way to get my edited pictures from there to here. That's the rub. So far, it's not easy. Not Flickr easy, anyway. So if any of you have this mastered, help a sister out!! I had to upload all the pictures for this post into Google+, edit them to add the wording, download them to my computer, then re-upload them into Blogger (loving that the picture will actually show up where your cursor is in Blogger now! Someone finally realized that all the pictures being posted at the top of the post probably wasn't the brightest idea). Google+ NEVER uploaded my butterfly pic, even when I tried to upload it on it's own, so I had to go the Flickr route on that one, but my concern is that I need to wean myself off of Flickr a bit for the blog photos since I won't have any way to edit them after the 19th. Then the pictures came out too small so I ended up uploading them all the Flickr anyways so they were sized correctly. Buh. That's ok. I'm not going to let it get me down today! I'm meeting the MIL for lunch! I got my Sewing Summit tickets! I got a shower today! All is right with the world!!


 

Interview with Jennie at Clover and Violet

Jennie is the daughter of a mother/daughter blogging/creating team! Their creations are so adorable and just PRETTY for lack of a better adjective. I use that word a lot to describe different things, but I really mean it when I look at their beautiful creations. I especially love how they incorporate embroidery to make their art even PRETTIER!!! Their blog is refreshing and along with great pictures of their creations, they share about their lives, meaning we get to see their sewing rooms!! Brave women! I now introduce you to Jennie, living in California, USA!

Hello!  I'm Jennie and I blog with my mom over at Clover & Violet.  Thanks Danny for inviting us to be part of this series.

Q: Who are you?

A: As I already stated, we're a mother/daughter team living in Virginia and California respectivly {thank you army!}, and we blog our creative endeavors together at Clover & Violet.  We primarily quilt, sew, and embroider, creating fun things and selling the patterns online in our shop.

Even though we live far apart, our joint shop and blog {and love of fabric!} helps us to keep our relationship strong over the thousands of miles that separate us.  Just like many other quilters {and crafters of all kinds} we are enjoying the fact that the internet really does make this a small world!

Q: What do you create?

A: We create a wide variety of things, mostly with fabric and thread, but are probably most known for our quilted bag patterns and our embroidery stitch and quilt alongs.  We also dabble in knitting, crochet, web design, and are both learning photography.  So, I guess you could say we try a little bit of a lot of different things, but our hearts still belong to fabric!

Q: Why do you create?

A: Hmm, this is actually kind of a difficult question to answer.  I think most people who create things would tend to agree, it's something we have to do.  It's just part of who we are and what we do.

I'll also venture to say that, once one starts creating something, it is kind of contagious and one has to make more and more things!

Q: Do you sell your creations?  If so, how? Where? And is it profitable?

A: Yes, we do!  You can visit our shop here for instant pdf downloads, or our Etsy shop here, if you prefer to work through Etsy {the patterns are still pdfs, but they're e-mailed as soon as we receive your purchase}.  Our patterns are also sold through select retailers, see the list here.  We've found that in this digital market, pdf patterns are the easiest way to go, since they can be received instantly, don't require shipping, and are never out of stock.

As far as profitable, I guess that depends on what one considers profit.  We're pleased with our sales, but they could always be better!  We initially started selling finished products, but it seems that in the age of Walmart and Target, people were expecting quality items at discount prices.  We still have the occasional customer that thinks they're buying a finished, handmade bag for the cost of the pattern, not realizing we cannot even buy the supplies for that price!

Q: What mistakes have you made or lessons have you learned?

A: Well, first, see above!  :)  Also, I think we've learned to allow our shop and blog to evolve as we learn and grow as crafters and artists.  Don't allow yourself to get stuck in a rut of thinking just because you started in one place you have to keep on that path.

We started out making and selling baby blankets and crib sets.  However, I think if you took a peek around our blog and shop today, you'll find something totally different.  However, if we hadn't started with baby things, we wouldn't have realized that mom's want patterns for cute diaper bags...and we wouldn't have started down the amazing path we're on now!

Q: What {to you} is success?  Have you achieved it?

A: Well, success to us is just our continued growth, enjoyment of our projects, and our time spent together, so I'd venture to say we've acheived success.  Granted, there's always room for greater success, and I think we may be on our way to that too.  Every time we sell a pattern or see a project from one of our tutorials, we enjoy a little bit more success.

Q: What's next?

A:  Well, you'll just have to wait and see...no, really, we're working on some new patterns for the shop, a new embroidery quilt along to begin mid to late February, and, of course, more fun tutorials.  We plan to just continue to grow our shop and blog and share our love of quilting, sewing, and embroidery with whoever is interested!

How cute are Clara and Jennie?! Thank you again, ladies, for being interviewed for Creating Success Around the World.

To see who the other hosts are interviewing on their continent, click on the buttons below!










If you are interested in being interviewed for Creating Success Around the World, leave me a comment on this post. Feel free to link up your blog or a creation you are especially proud of and meet some other crafters from around the globe!