Small Things Are Big Things

Remember Marcy from the Glamorous Life Association? —–>>>




You know the funny one who hosted the awesome Blogger Tee giveaway in our 3rd Birthday Bash?
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(Just to clarify: funny = humorous. Not ‘funny’ as in looking.)

Well, she featured lil ole’ me today at her weekly GIRL Party!
(G.I.R.L. = Glamorous In Real Life)
Read the shocking interview here!
(Shocking = me trying to be funny)

She also makes the best buttons. Click to become a Marcy stalker… I mean fan too…

I met Karen from Karen Eileen Designs about 3 years ago when I was just starting a little thing called Eli’s Lids.
She is whimsical, positive and a breath of fresh air!
You know, the kind of person who finds really cool stuff at vintage shops and has an eye for the uber-cool-not-so-mainstream-but-should-be art.
Her blog is great and packed with fun, silly, sweet, vintage, inspiring pictures.
Karen also has the sweetest baby line. Each design has a vintage inspired picture and is embellished with swarovski crystals!!
I have my eye on this little ditty—>>
One of our lucky readers will with their choice of Karen Eileen Designs!!
Here’s how…
Main entry (mandatory): Click on over to the Karen Eileen Designs shop then come back to this post and leave a comment telling us the design you like best.
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In addition to the main entry you can get loads of extra entries if you
~Follow Karen’s blog or let me know you already do (3 entries)
~Subscribe to Karen Eileen Designs RSS feed or let me know you already do (2 entries)
~Follow Karen on twitter here! Or let me know you already do. Leave your Twitter ID in the comment. (2 entries)
~Tweet about the giveaway, can be done daily. Copy and paste this for the tweet: “Enter to win a vintage inspired baby or toddler tee from the @elislids Birthday Bash here http://bit.ly/Ab09y hosted by @kareneileen” If you don’t have twitter you can FB for this one. (3 entries per day)
~Add the “Eli’s Lids Giveaway” button in our sidebar to your blog or let me know you already did (2 entries per blog)
~Follow the Eli’s Lids blog (2 entries)
~Become a fan of Eli’s Lids on Facebook or let me know you already are (2 entries)
~Subscribe to the Eli’s Lids RSS Feed or let me know you already do (1 entry)
~Follow Eli’s Lids on Twitter, leave your Twitter ID in the comment or let me know you already do (1 entry)
For every extra entry, be sure to leave a separate comment on this post! i.e. If you add our giveaway button to your blog leave 2 separate comments.
***Giveaway open one week! Ends Saturday September 26th 9:00pm PST***
And we’ll be seeing a lot more from Karen Eileen Designs…
Tell us a bit about your family…
I have been married for almost 22 years. We have two sons: Chase; 15 and Michael ;21. We live near the beach in Southern Calif, but are considering a move to Colorado to fulfill a dream of land and small farm – as long as there is a great town to shop at eat at too!

You have such great style. Where do you shop?
Thank you for saying that. That is one of the things I love about getting older….you wear what you want. I LOVE Anthropologie. That is probably my fave. From household to clothing…books…all they need is a coffee shop and I would never go anyplace else. I also love thrifting. It helps to satisfy that shopping urge when the budget is tight. Another favorite place is the library. I love books. I can never have enough. The best thing is checking out stacks of home, gardening and cookbooks.
Why did you start Karen Eileen Designs?
I was inspired by all of the horrible messages that I saw on young women’s tees. I thought, “why doesn’t someone make cool tees with positive things? Eventually my love for all things adorable evolved my business into baby and toddler designs.

Anything new one the horizon for Karen Eileen Designs? Yes. I hope to launch my new website next month. It has been in the making for a long time. I will sell my baby line, along with tees for women, maternity, jewelry and apothecary. I am also very excited to be featuring one of my favorite artist’s work: Kerry Judd.

What inspires you?

That changes all the time. Sometimes it is gardening, sometimes I can be looking through a magazine. One of the things that inspires the “business” side of me is to meet and know other women who are doing what they love for a living’ making a difference in the world with their own passions and creativity.

Don’t forget to enter all our current Birthday Bash giveaways…
…vintage inspired baby or toddler tee from Karen Eileen Designs here!! Ends 9/26
… a Kids’ Keepsake Journal here. Ends 9/21
… custom hand hand stamped initial necklace from Kristen’s Custom Creations here! Ends 9/22 See the full list of giveaways coming the next 2 months here!

Winner of the Monkey Moon Photo shoot is:
#42 Rachael Woodall

Thanks to all who entered!!

How are the winners chosen? (you ask)
First, I go through all the entries and make sure everything is legit. (YES, every single one! Some folks forget to comment for all their extra entries or put in too many)
Second, I put every valid entry in the order it was received.
Third, I click on over to www.Random.org and type in my numbers.
Fourth, I hold my breath because I get so nervous… even though it doesn’t matter.
Last, I get super excited to see the winner!

I was first introduced to ‘shirring’ by According to Kelly at the OC Bloggers Ball.
Then I saw all the potential shirring greatness on made.
I gave it a try.
I made one of my old Hurley Shirts into a dress for Cora. (FYI – Hurley doesn’t make very cute little girl stuff… and this is coming from a Hurley Family!!)
Shirring in a nutshell is using elastic thread in your bobbin to make the fabric scrunch-up (bodice) or ruffle (shoulder straps).
Two tutorials I found to be the most helpful were this one from Portabellopixie and this one from Pretty Ditty.

I pieced together some of the screen printed patterns I had to cut off into an awesome applique for the skirt of the dress.

As always, there are tons of ways to re-purpose old clothes into little girl outfits (I mean, really, you can add a ruffle, bow or flower to anything and it looks cute on a little girl!). Since I’m partial to the little guys (I did start a business for boys), I’ll be posting tutorials on how to re-purpose stuff for boys. Starting next week with the gem below!!

Don’t forget to enter all our current Birthday Bash giveaways……vintage inspired baby or toddler tee from Karen Eileen Designs here!! Ends 9/26
… a photo session with Monkey Moon Photography here. (Southern California folks or people willing to come to OC for the shoot only please) Ends tomorrow!!
… a Kids’ Keepsake Journal here. Ends 9/21
… custom hand hand stamped initial necklace from Kristen’s Custom Creations here! Ends 9/22
See the full list of giveaways coming the next 2 months here!

The winner of the 2 adorable onsies from Sewing the Seed is….
#37 Candice from Mom Most Traveled
Recently I have had the chance to tweet with her and frequent her blog!

Check out her on going giveaway list here!

See why she is Mom Most Traveled here!

The lucky winner of $50 to Pampered Chef is…

I discovered our next 3rd Birthday Bash host when I was searching for the perfect Mommy Necklace.
Remember?———>>
Kristen from Kristen’s Custom Creations is awesome and her work truly is custom. She patiently endured all my emails till I had worked out my perfect necklace.
Since my necklace order, I have loved getting to know Kristen via twitter and Facebook and she (being incredibly awesome) agreed to giveaway one of her latest designs…
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…the Teenie Tiny Initial Necklace.
<<-------- Isn’t it precious?!? The only problem will be choosing whose initial to put on it!
Here’s how you win…
Main entry (mandatory): Click on over to Kristen’s shop, then come back to this post and leave a comment with one of your favorite items.
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In addition to the main entry you can get loads of extra entries if you…
~Follow Kristen’s blog La Dolce Vita or let me know you already do (3 entries)
~Become a fan of Kristen’s Custom Creations on Facebook here or let me know you already do (3 entries)
~Subscribe to La Dolce Vita’s RSS feed or let me know you already do (2 entries)
~Follow Kristen on twitter here! Leave your Twitter ID in the comment or let me know you already do (2 entries)
~Tweet about the giveaway, can be done daily. Copy and paste this for the tweet: “Enter to win this sweet necklace from Kristen’s Custom Creations from @ElisLids here http://bit.ly/17WRxn!! Pls RT!” If you don’t have twitter you can FB for this one. (3 entries per day)
~Add the “Eli’s Lids Giveaway” button in our sidebar to your blog or let me know you already did (2 entries per blog)
~Follow the Eli’s Lids blog (2 entries)
~Subscribe to the Eli’s Lids RSS Feed or let me know you already do (1 entry)
~Follow Eli’s Lids on Twitter, leave your Twitter ID in the comment or let me know you already do (1 entry)
For every extra entry, be sure to leave a separate comment on this post! i.e. If you add our giveaway button to your blog leave 2 separate comments.
***Giveaway open one week! Ends Tuesday September 22nd 9:00pm PST***

Kristen’s Custom Creations has the biggest heart for charity. But I’ll let Kristen tell you all about it…
Tell us a little about your family…
hubby John, kiddo Will almost 4 and our Greyhound who is 9, he is our other baby.
What is your Awareness Jewelry all about?
Often my awareness pieces are inspired by someone close to me for example I personally suffered from infertility so created my Patience piece to benefit Resolve a group that helps others suffering from infertility. I wanted other women to feel some comfort from the piece while fighting their private battle.
What prompted your heart for charity?
I have always been active with a variety of charities and thought why not raise awareness through my jewelry and donate a portion of proceeds to that group. When I personally wear a piece of jewelry it holds special meaning to me and felt it could do that for someone else.
How can a charity contact you about getting custom necklaces made?
Anyone can email me directly at klacustomcreations@comcast.net

See my last interview with Kristen here.
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Did I mention Kristen’s adorable son, Will, is a Lid Lover?
See…

Will pictured in the Grey Surfer Tee on a trip to the Flavor Fruit Farm.
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Have you entered our Birthday Bash giveaways…
…vintage inspired baby or toddler tee from Karen Eileen Designs here!! Ends 9/26
…2 adorable onsies: a pink one that says ‘Blessed’ a blue one that says ‘I’m the answer to prayer’ size 3-6 months. Here! Ends 9/16
… $50 to Pampered Chef here. Yes! $50!!!! Ends 9/15
… a photo session with Monkey Moon Photography here. (Southern California folks or people willing to come to OC for the shoot only please) Ends 9/19
… a Kids’ Keepsake Journal here. Ends 9/21
See the full list of giveaways coming the next 2 months here!

Today’s giveaway is for the
This is Me Journal!!
This is an adorable keepsake for little ones of all ages to record the year from their own perspective.

I won this Journal at the Just Spotted Blog Awards (generously donated by This Mama Makes Stuff) but since my kiddos are so young I though I would raffle it off for our 3rd Birthday Bash. I know I will be buying one (every year) starting when Eli is in Pre K!
The journals are meant to be colored in but I don’t see why you couldn’t make it a multi media art book, using pictures, stickers, fabric, glue, glitter… whatever little imaginations can dream up. (Hope you enjoy my horrible attempt at photoshop to decorate these pages!)
The Journal retails for $18 and the price goes down the more you get (favor for a birthday party or gift for the classroom?).These are awesome, made of high quality card stock, and created by a mom… so you know your kiddos will love it!
Every holiday has pages for your kiddo to memorialize the event with their art. Questions help kiddos to expand on what happened. Older kiddos can write the answers, younger kiddos can to dictate to parents.
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Here’s how you win…
Main entry (mandatory): Leave a comment here about who you would give the This is Me Journal to.
In addition to the main entry you can get loads of extra entries if you…
~Add the “Eli’s Lids Giveaway” button in our sidebar to your blog or let me know you already did (2 entries per blog)
~Become a fan of Eli’s Lids on Facebook (2 entries)
~Follow the This Mama Makes Stuff blog (2 entries)
~Follow the Eli’s Lids blog. See our sidebar to follow (2 entries)
~Subscribe to the Eli’s Lids RSS Feed or let me know you already do (2 entries)
~Follow Eli’s Lids on Twitter, leave your Twitter ID in the comment or let me know you already do (1 entry)
~Follow Carrie on twitter here. (1 entry)
~Follow This is Me journal on twitter here. (1 entry)
~Tweet about the giveaway, can be done daily. Copy and paste this for the tweet: “I just entered to win a This is Me Journal keepsake journal here: http://bit.ly/4FyOXi via @ElisLids Pls RT!” If you don’t have twitter you can FB for this one. (3 entries per day)
For every extra entry, be sure to leave a separate comment on this post! i.e. If you add our giveaway button to your blog leave 2 separate comments.
***Giveaway open one week! Ends Monday September 21st 9:00pm PST***







Have you entered our Birthday Bash giveaways…
…vintage inspired baby or toddler tee from Karen Eileen Designs here!! Ends 9/26
…2 adorable onsies: a pink one that says ‘Blessed’ a blue one that says ‘I’m the answer to prayer’ size 3-6 months. Here! Ends 9/16
… $50 to Pampered Chef here. Yes! $50!!!! Ends 9/15
… a photo session with Monkey Moon Photography here. (Southern California folks or people willing to come to OC for the shoot only please) Ends 9/19
… custom hand handstamped initial necklace from Kristen’s Custom Creations here! Ends 9/22
See the full list of giveaways coming the next 2 months here!