My First Blog Award!

I am so happy because I was just awarded my very first blog award and it couldn't come at a better time.  As anyone who reads my blog know, I have been feeling like caca for the past few weeks so it was so nice to smile about something.  Jen at The Nifty-Thrifty Lady  gave me the award for helping her out when she was just started out blogging with some helpful links and information.  It is always so nice to know that I was able to help out

By accepting this award I have agreed to:

• Thank the blogger who presented it to me and link back to her page.  Check Jen's blog out at the link on my right sidebar or above.  If you stop by, please tell her I sent you over.  She is very cool gal and it is always nice when folks leave feedback for you.
• Share 7 things about myself.
• Pass the award on to a newly discovered blog.  

Ohhhh, 7 things about me.....this could get interesting..lol.  

1. I have two obsessions that I can't get enough of.....shoes and jammies!  I wish that my body would have held up better so that I could wear some of the fierce heels that are out there now.  On the jammie subject, I have tons of flannel and cotton jammie bottoms, shorts, and t-shirts.  I love them and depending on how I feel some days, I might not get out of them.  Which leads me to #2.
2. I suffer from psoriatic arthritis AND fibomyalgia.  I give myself weekly shots (yeah me!) that are supposed to help but they don't.  Both seem to tag team each other so when it is not the weather messing with the arthritis, it is someone stressing me out or the arthritis meds messing with the fibro.
3. I lived in Arizona for 6 years.  I loved the people but hated the allergies.  I don't care what people say about Arizona being good for allergies because unless you have lived there, you don't understand that things have changed.  People have brought in different vegetation and there are so many man-made lakes and pools that the weather is different now than it was 40 years ago.  Also, if dust is one of your allergies, you are screwed.
4. I have very few female friends because honestly, I don't trust them.  I have been stabbed in the back way too many times and I don't take my friendships lightly.  I can't just "toss aside" a friendship, it is not in my makeup to just give up on people so it is easier to not even get involved.  The friends that I do have, I have had for years because I know they too just don't give up on people.  Thank you my YaYa for loving me through ALL of my faults and seeing the real me, even if I let you down or disappointed you.  YOU my dear are a true friend and I will love you till the day I die.  We may not see each other as much as we would like but I always know you are right here in my heart.
5. I was craftily retarded until I hit 30 years old and then I don't know what happened.  I started scrapbooking and liked it for about 5 minutes but got extremely bored.  I got into fusing glass a few years back and I love it but have had so much pain that I have been unable to do the steps down to my studio like I used to.  Through glass I got into the vinyl and I love it because it allows me to do a lot of computer designing.  In high school, I took sewing classes and bought a sewing machine awhile back that has just been accumulating dust.  I recently pulled it out and have been sewing.  It is relaxing and I love that I can complete a project in a couple of hours.  Sewing, I have found out, is kind of like riding a bike, you can stop for awhile but then start up again and the techniques and ideas just come flowing back.  In the past I have also knit and crocheted but it hurts my hands too much to do anymore so I will stick with the vinyl and sewing for now.
6. I can't lie.  I just can't physically do it because I have the guiltiest conscience and things just eat me alive if I do it.  However on that note, I have learned over the years that even if you tell the truth and speak your mind, there is a way to do it without being rude or disrespectful.  Which leads me into #7.
7. When I was growing up, there were two things that I wanted to be when I grew up, a chef or a lawyer.  Of course I am neither now but I do love to cook for my family and my son is in the culinary program at school so it seems he is following one of my dreams.  On the lawyer side, I have taken many college classes and even did an internship for a lawyer here in St. Louis and I loved it.  I always was afraid that I would never succeed at being a lawyer because of how I like to argue my point and speak the truth.  I had a lawyer tell me about 10 years ago, that I would have made or would make an incredible attorney because the arguing I do is not of a disrespectful nature but of a passionate nature.  I didn't know there was a difference until he explained this to me and many younger people need to realize this early and take note.  You don't need to curse someone up one end and back down the other to get your point across.  In fact, if you do it in a calm manner, sit down and explain the reasons you feel the way that you do and why, it generally makes for a better discussion.  

The blog that I would like to nominate is Patty from Patty Trends.  She has some of the coolest DIY stuff on her blog and she is a fellow Pinterest user.  If you have little ones, she has the most awesome tutorial for making a time out chair.   When you go by and see Patty, tell her I sent you.

Is it Really Thursday Already?

Wow....this week seems to have flown by and what do I have to show for it?   A NEW BAG!  Well, almost a new bag.  Actually, Briar is on Fall Break (don't even get me started on this stupid "break" thing) and I have not been feeling all that great so most of this week has either been spent following him around trying to figure out what he is doing or in bed.  Bed is only good if my hubby is home (oh la la) and not when I feel like death has knocked my door down.  One of these years I am going to get used to this pain or I will die for sure trying! :)  I have to share pics of course as I always love to do because it gives you a glimpse into my crazy world I call life.  Today is going to be kind of random cause that is the kind of girl I am.  Let's start with the new bag.  I showed you the one that I completed on Monday (yes, I know, fantabulous) and I used it for the first time on Tuesday.  There are some minor adjustments that I will definitely be making when I make this bag again, because I am a perfectionist and I want to get the stupid thing right in my eyes.  First....the dumb thing needs a pocket on the inside.  How could I have forgotten to include this or better yet, why was it missing in the instructions?  What do others do with all of your little "junk" like business cards and reward cards and well, stuff too small that shouldn't just be floating around in a big bag?  This girl needs at least one pocket!  Next, I have to say that I LOVE carrying this bag because it hangs just right and most of the purses that I have had in the past few years have had handles to only carry them on my arm and not my shoulder.  This is great and seems so much lighter.  BUT, cause you know that there always is one, even with the suiting material that I used as well as the flannel, the bag was kind of flimsy when I sat down and put it on my lap.   I know that sounds like a stupid thing to be a turn off but I guess I am used to my big, sturdy leather Michael Kors bag or my Vera Bradley and thought it should just hold its shape a little better.  That also can be fixed easily and will be with the next one.  Besides that, I love the shape and again, how it hangs.

The bag I am finishing up right now is below and if going to make an excellent laptop bag that I can throw my puter in and on my way I go.

Pic from book

Both side panels and liner

My first flat bottom....yeah!

view from other side.

Now all that it needs is handles and it will be finished.  Can't wait to throw my laptop in it!

Help me decide on the next project from my book.  Leave me a comment and let me know which one of the two below projects YOU think I should make.

Weekender Bag

Side View

Felted Corsage Bag

Bag with the Copper Canyon felt I want to try

Until Next Time,
Mamalou

Newest Project.....Purse

I was inspired by my friend Dawn and her cool bags that she makes but I had to give it the "Mamalou" touch.    We are into really different fabrics which is cool in my book.  While I love and swoon for the Shabby Chic, floral look, she is into the modern/artistic prints.  While my first attempt didn't stay in either category, I love the mix of browns I used and love even more, the mix of different material types.  I love it so much that I am going to use it today :)

The template that I kind of went from, but mixed it up some, was from a book called "The Perfect Handmade Bag" by Clare Youngs.

I picked it up this past week at Barnes and Noble and it contains some of the coolest designs that I have seen and it was so easy to understand, which I needed!  The template that I used was for the Wool Bow Bag but I did some modification to it because I wanted a longer handle and I didn't really want to put a bow on it.  Also, I wanted to use a few different materials on it instead of just one plaid throughout.  OK, so here we go.

Outside and liner cut and tapered

Accents

Burberry Plaid <3

Finished product 

Love my little green "tag"

That's it.  Had I not have been distracted by Grey's Anatomy episodes that we are trying to catch up on, I probably could have made this in a matter of a couple of hours but it took about 1/2 a day since I did make a few errors that I had to correct and I kept changing my mind on the fabrics but essentially it was easy and I can't wait to make more of the bags in this book.  I am so stoked that I didn't get rid of my sewing machine like I thought about many times! :)

Until later,
Mamalou

Living Room Picture Wall

I need some feedback and ideas and guess who I come to first....yep, you!  Look in the mirror and you know who I am talking to :).  Give yourself a great big pat on the back because I know that you want to offer feedback....right?

OK, here is the dilemma....if you read my posts, you know that I have recently gotten a sudden burst of creativity and need to get crap moving, well not moving per say but just changed up and spruced.  A new season, a new leaf turned, a new blah, blah, blah.  Actually, I was just kind of looking at my huge picture wall that I have in my living room and a year has past since any new pics of Marcus (my grandson)  have gone up or were switched.  He pointed out in his almost two year old language the other night that PaPa is holding the "BayBay" (in his sort of Louisiana sounding word..lol).  We tried to explain that the pic was of Grandpa and Marcus when HE was a baby but since he is NO longer a BayBay, he just didn't get it so...time to update the wall.  Hey, if I was as adorable as him, I would want to see my face plastered all over MiMi's (me....Gammy shortened) wall.  I am going to show a few pics below that will show how it originally started and what it looks like today and explain what I need/want to do.  First, this is originally what it looked like right after I hung the vinyl words up.  Oh and keep in mind that I have a large cutter for my vinyl so the wording is a given piece that is going to change.

My original wall, blank until I added the initial vinyl
and two collage frames.  I worked everything
else around them.

Gaps filled but still not great.  The lamp I love
needs to be moved.  It scratches the wall
and we don't even use it.

This is the wall today. 

I was playing around with the wall last night and trying to figure out which way I want to go with it.  First, black and white is just so, black and white so I need to add some colors.  If you look back at my posts, you will see the cool turquoise clock that I repainted.  That sits to the right of this wall so using that same turquoise makes sense and pinkish/peachy color is light enough that it doesn't knock you out when you walk in and see it.  Oh, and you can see that the lamp, although pretty, has been moved to the basement for now until we can find a way to incorporate it back in.  So the words are new, the large "A" still ugly craft paper color is just up to show that I want to incorporate it in, plus my project from last week, the "A" in the glass picture frame hung by a ribbon.  One more art piece will be going up but it is not finished yet.  It will be sort of like the button art piece below but I am putting it on a painter's canvas covered in burlap material. The button colors will be a lot cream, mother of pearls, lighter browns and I think I will incorporate a few turquoise" just to break it up.

                                                              

                                 

So what do you think of it all?  Do you like the idea of the small wooden words?  Do you like the idea of breaking up the pictures with a little monogram art?  What should I do with the big "A", modge podge it, paint it, modge podge and glitter?  Now you are on to something! :)  What should the vinyl say?  I have some pretty standard ideas, but am liking "Memories.  Memories are timeless treasures of the heat.", "Every Picture has a story to tell", "Family is belonging to and believing in one another", "Families are forever", "Moments to Remember", "Home is where your story begins".  Any of them jump out and smack you?  No, me neither. I know that when I see it, I will just know but hey, I could just put romper Room! LOL  I hope you all have had a wonderful weekend and any help or feedback is always appreciated.  

Anyway, if you take the time to read this, please comment and give me your feedback and ideas.

Until later...

Mamalou