Be. In the moment.

           Can I just encourage you to be in the moment with your children while they are still at home? There are so many distractions pulling us away from our family...work, facebook, etc. Our time with our children is so precious and will be gone before we know it. I will admit that I really struggle with finding balance between raising my five precious souls (vital), and running my Etsy shop (fun). I believe that Sweet Home Boutique has been placed here and established by God, so I just need to trust Him to work out all things. I have been so busy with my shop that last night I had a total "ugly" cry over missing that sacred time with my children...I repented of my skewed priorities and started today fresh. I purposed in my heart that no matter how stressed I get I will not raise my voice at my children. I also purposed to let go and completely trust God that He has "got this".

   This morning after my girls piano lessons (their teacher comes to our home), and our time spent homeschooling we made Thanksgiving suncatchers. I got them in the front of Michaels for $1.00 each. The paint was dry, so if you get these make sure you have kids paint on hand

                            

About half the time I fuss at my children for jumping off the couch. Yes, half of the time, so in other words they are allowed to do it. See, if we are not consistant with our rules and boundaries 100% of the time, than they are not really rules and boundaries at all. So, my new rule is that they are allowed to jump off of the couch after asking me, and under my supervision. Today we made a game of it, and snapped some fun pictures too.

                                                            

 

 

Yay, super fun and good memories made...By the way, this was our last jump because the little one on the couch jumped and landed on my 4 year sons foot seconds after this picture was taken. He was pretty much in unbearlable pain until I had him test out whether he could still do the funky chicken dance.

 

This post might be cheesy, and I aplogize for that. Even though writting is not one of my gifts I do believe I have something worthwhile to say.

 

So, I encourage you again to be. in. the. moment. with your children, and to enjoy them. completely.

         .

Teach Your Children To Not Whine, Argue, or Complain

        I am a mother to 5 children, and am constantly trying to get everyone to have a happy, cheerful and compliant attitude. I prefer teaching through positive reinforcement if I have the appropriate tools for that.  This is a little tool that I discovered that has really helped me a lot in squelching bad attitudes and whining....


The first thing is to get some mason jars (or other similar container), and write the verse Philippians 2:4 (Do everything without whining, arguing or complaining)..Also, write the child's name on it.

Second,  cut up little pieces of paper, I would cut about 40. Each piece of paper represents money.  For my kids each piece was worth 10 cents.

Last, fill up the jar with the pieces of paper, close the lid and set it somewhere within view of your child.  Tell them they have $4.00 worth of cards in the jar, and in one week we will tally up the cards, and see how much they have to spend. (I chose the Target dollar spot to take mine).

Tell them every time they whine argue or complain, they are loosing one of their tabs, and do it. I repeated the Bible verse each time they lost a tab. I really liked this, and found it very effective for my children. Especially my almost 7 year old.

That's it, have fun, and enjoy those Happy Kids!!

Etsy fashion front page AND wholesale order AND treasuries, Oh My.

                    So, yesterday,  YeSterday, YESterDAY was Huge for Sweet Home Boutique! As I was checking my Etsy Shop stats for the hundredth time yesterday  I saw an extraordinary amount of hits on this yellow dress to my shop

                         I had just been featured in a treasury with this dress, so I at first thought that treasury had made it to the first page of Etsy. After looking into that I realized that was not it. Then I thought it had gone viral, and I desperately wanted to know what site sent this dress viral. I went on Google analytics to look at my stats, and lo and behold all the traffic was coming from an Etsy Fashion Email. I did not subscribe to this email (I do now) so I went on the forums asking if someone couple link me with the email....and ta da HERE it is!

                        Now anyone who sells on Etsy knows that this is huge. There are over 16,000,000 products for sale on ETSY, so to make it to the front page of something is amazing! The theme of the e-mail was Citrine and out of 25,000 yellow dresses to feature mine was chosen. Not only did this bring a TON of traffic to my shop (I had almost 1000 views on my shop yesterday). I was also featured on (2) treasuries, and got an offer to do wholesale with a company of THIS dress!

                        Now with all of that! I am one amazed mama! Now it's back to homeschooling for me, and finishing attaching 8 mickey mouse ears to 4 hats...Have a great DAY and be BLESSED

       -Rachel
                  

                               

  

Boy Clothes!!!

I once was a mommy of two little girls, and my world was completely pink. In April 2008 we had our first boy, and now have 3 little guys ages 4, 2, and 7months (along with our 5 and 6 year old girls)...
So, as a seamstress mommy to girls it is so fun, and so easy to come up with amazing outifts. Little girls are all about twirl, ruffles, gorgeous fabric etc.  I find it a lot harder to sew for my little guys because, at least in my mind, they always need to look "cool"......
On that note, I listed 3 little man things in my shop today with my baby boy modeling :-)

                                                         The classic mustache onsie you can find in my shop here

                                                      Bicycle rompers you can find here

                                    And a classic corduroy ropmers with tie for the little man at work

                                                You can find them in my shop here
    So, I hope I am doing my part in the world to add cool baby boy clothing to Etsy You can check out the other listings in my shop here

New little lady dresses.. and a shrug

I listed 2 new dresses today in Sweet Home Boutique. I have already made these dresses for my own girls, but I got so many compliments on them I decided to list them in my shop...I have tried many different patterns for my girls, but always go back to the peasant dress because it is so comfortable and easy to wear (no zippers, buttons, ties. etc.)

 

 

 

 When we were in Virginia Beach VA this summer we lived right beside a Johannes Fabric...It was basically a dream come true to live beside an amazing fabric store so before I left I picked up several fabrics including the fabric shown in this dress.

 

You can check out this dress in my Etsy shop here

  I also added this dress with Oh Deer fabric by Moda...I think it is so gorgeous. It again is a peasant style, but with a complete elastic waistline as opposed to it just on the back.

 It also has a pretty red band on the bottom with darker red trees.

                                                 You can find this Moda dress in my Etsy shop here

Yesterday I got this listing up. I have made several of these for my daughters and have received a ton of compliments on them.

                                                                little crochet shrug

            My girls wore these all summer over their little tank tops and they complimented every outfit so well. You can also see the Shrug in my shop here

crochet animal hats and my first amigurumi

Today I added my first amigurumi to my shop..

amigurumi (the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting a small  stuffed doll)

So in other words, I crocheted my first stuffed animal but will use the word amigurumi because it sounds way cooler

Little Duck

I have also added several more hats...

                                                                       Giraffe Hat

Captain America Hat

                                                               Pink Moo Cow Hat

 

 

 

In the near future I will also be adding Hello Kitty, Micky Mouse, Minnie Mouse, Angry Birds, as well as several Amigurumi.

You can check out the rest of my shop here

 

 

I am back on Etsy after a one year baby break!

 

Just wanted to say Heeeeelllllloooooo out there. I am back!! My 5th son was born in March, and I have slowly started to add things back to my Etsy shop. I was very successful with my clothing shop, but my interests and availability has changed over the last year. As much as I love to sew, I also love to crochet.  My new shop is filling up with crochet animal hats, knight hats, sweaters and more. This allows me the flexability to work no matter where I am...I can just take my project and orders with me.
Here are some of my new listings!

https://www.etsy.com/listing/109304899/crochet-animal-hat-fox-hat-orange-and

https://www.etsy.com/listing/109463680/crochet-knight-hat-solider-medival

 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/109203948/crochet-soccer-hat-football-beanie-cap



https://www.etsy.com/listing/108858882/crochet-sock-monkey-hat-photo-prop-sizes?ref=v1_other_1

https://www.etsy.com/listing/94640029/crochet-owl-hats-kids-baby-photo-prop

A Poppy Ruffle Dress Giveaway, and a Tiny Red Dress

                          If  you love my Etsy Shop, make sure to become a fan on facebook here.

I am hosting a giveaway for 2 custom poppy dresses (1 each for 2 winners) pictured  above once I reach 500 fans. At last count I was a 213!

                                           This week I also listed this tiny red sweater dress
                                                       for children 12m, 2t, 3t, 4t, and 5t         

complete with cowl neck, belt, and long sleeves

                                                          You can find this dress here

 Don't forget to also follow me on twitter to receive updates on my shop and  the rambling and musings of things reguarding my shop, ideas, and inspiration here

               

putting a few things on Hold

After trying several things with my Viking to no avail. I decided that I could not sell anything without a trusty serger to professionaly finish the seams, and get settled into our new homestead. I am still going to be sewing new and old patterns for myself and family, and posting pics. In the meantime I plan to do thourough research on small business, get a designer logo made, clothing lables, and business cards. I am in talks with our builder of our home in SC to do an attic conversion that I am really excited about. I would like to put a large family room and seperate frog (aka sewing room). Really excited about that. I also would like to add onto our deck, and put up a privacy fence. Hmmm I wonder if all of my time spent with my father as a child at construction sites(he owned a consstruction company) will help me build a couple of things...lol. I was actually even looking at wood saws today. Rachel + saws = scary! More likely my dad will come down and coordinate, and I will will be his trusty helper. I would like to build or have built a large wooden arbor on part of the deck and grow morning glories and moonflowers. That way there would be blooms both night and day.
I would acutally love to have a small chicken coupe for eggs, but that is just in theory, I don't want to be a bad neighbor with a little rooster crowing every morning at the crack of dawn...We will do a garden again...This time Audrey and Naomi will be old enough to weed and water....homeschool 101
Happy Sunday!

Starting a boutique

Hey everyone, My name is Rachel and I am a submarine officers wife. I have four small children 4 and under and I love to sew for them, and would love to sew for you too. I will be posting some pictures of some creations, and if you are interested in any of the styles, we can talk about sizing and pricing. I am currently in Hawaii, but will soon be in Charleston SC, which will make shipping and handling an easier and quicker option...