my destiny...

Why do I do Sweet Home Boutique?

It all started with this prayer, "Lord, I don't want to miss my destiny"


We were going to church at Hope Chapel West Oahu in Hawaii where the pastor was living in His destiny, and a pretty amazing one at that. He was big on preaching on our Destiny and not missing it, and so went my prayer. I thought it a sad state to go through life and never reach the mark of why I was here. My heartfelt surrendered prayer birthed in me the desire to start a clothing shop. I have always loved to sew, and I look back and see how Sweet Home Boutique was always there. Of course like every little girl I loved dressing up, and inventing outfits. In fifth grade my "style" was men's ties and twirl skirts. In middle school it was flannel shirts (another item borrowed from my dads clothing stash). I was in a modeling competition when I was 14  and I had no interest in looking my "best", but having the most style...a superman shirt, red skirt, shoes, and white high heals. This outfit that made me get voted, "most likely to start a fashion trend" in my 8th grade class.  In high school my sister and I always made a stop at a massive goodwill on the way home from visiting family in Ohio. They had a large selection of vintage clothing, and I always stocked up on bell bottoms, and dresses from the 1970's. (my inspiration pictured below)

my parents on their wedding day :-)

So, on to the destiny part. I do not feel more alive and excited than when I am making clothing. It is a passion that the Lord has birthed in me, and I believe one of the purposes I was born in this time. I want to be sure to  keep the Lord glorified in my shop as He is the only source of success and failure. I don't know all of the reasons of why this is my destiny, or what God is going to do with it, but I know that I need to stay surrendered in every area of it for Gods purpose to be fullfilled in this shop.
                                                            Happy Monday!

You Tube, and Tube Clothing

I now have a new video on You Tube that you can watch here,

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PkNv-O4FtXo

I have also been busy getting my first two orders out to my lovely customers, and making some new creations here....

http://www.etsy.com/shop/sweethomeboutique

I am really into he halters right now for summer, I have two more pieces in this style in the next day or two. One more tunic, and the other a halter dress with with a linen attached belt. I am also thinking about offering coupon codes for my shop through my fan page on Etsy.

Hope you have a wonderful day, oh and here is another pic from my garden

Happy Monday!

Patriotic Etsy

tis true, I am a patriot, all military families are. Keeping the home fires burning while the guys are away serving and protecting is a great service to the nation. I love the flag, and I take great pride in Our nation. So, it was only natural for me to throw something together with these great colors right before the holiday weekend.

Here is my newest listing on Etsy

I was also excited to be featured in a treasuryPatriot Games Treasury on Etsy with this top today. It is the second treasury that I have been included in since coming back to Etsy a couple of days ago...I forgot how much fun it is to be an etsian. It's not all about selling, but being part of a handmade community of artists.

Now that I am build up shop mode again, I am having all of these ideas swirling around my head for clothing creations. It's a prOcess.

Blessings---Rachel

culture and inspiration.

As I am looking through fabrics, and thinking of designs, I find it amazing how different my tastes are during different points in my life. I can also see a profound effect on my environment shaping my taste. Hawaii, where I started Sweet Home Boutique, is a land of eternal summer. In Charleston, South Carolina,(where we are now) summer is more celebrated because it only shines its pretty face for 3-4 months out of the year. I wanted to do something fun to celebrate summer, and being close to the beach in this lovely place.

here is what I came up with

It has a cute ruffle border at the top and I love how it is a relaxed fit, but still flattering to the female form. I plan on making more of these.   A great top to celebrate the season. What do you think?

You can check out all of my creations in my Etsy shop to the right

Thanks for stopping by

Happy Saturday!

something old, and something new

Having fun running Sweet Home Boutique again, this time, I hope I will be much wiser and more balanced than before. My older girls are very supportive of it,  as well as my husband. The children are also having fun working in their modeling career again.

Oh, and I am doing custom work again. After making several sizes of the peacock tunic I realized that it is much more economical to cut my fabric once an order is placed. I have already sold my first piece to Canada  with a couple of other prospects in the works, including a bridesmaid dress.

Here is a a couple of new outfits that I have listed

That is all for now, I need to get back to work.

Happy Friday!!

A quick note to say there is a new listing in my shop!!

After some discussion with my husband, we decided together to open back up sweet Home Boutique..We are going to be making retail size garments, and not doing custom orders for lack of time. We are very excited to wipe the dust off of Sweet Home Boutique, and open her back up! Last night I listed our first item available in a size XS. I have already cut, and started constructing size small, and medium and will list the yellow peacock sizes in those when they are complete!

Have a happy Monday!!!

Here is the top!

gardens, coupons, and an organized husband...

sooo, if you were a faithful reader, I am sorry about not blogging for a bit, we had a HUGE event in our family with my husband coming from deployment. Because of all of his leave saved up he was able to take off about 40 days before returning to work this week. It is fun to play happy housewife again, and have a husband that comes home daily...Life is so much richer now...

Though I have not been blogging I have stayed super busy....

My gardens are going strong, and I am amazed...

Here is my super thirsty vegetable garden (plus blackberries). My husband built this garden box for me last night to frame it.

Here is a red bush I put in the ground. The master plan is it to grow and cover the air conditioning unit. This year
I have been planting roses, and perennials, but now our focus is on landscaping.  My husband is going to make a stone patio around all of this.

cucumber flowers, We love cucumbers at our house. This year it looks like we are going to have a large crop.

eggplant flowers, eggplant Parmesan??

I have also started to really love to coupon, I will post pictures of my coupon organizer in a later post.
Here is what I got at Walgreen's today for $12.00 with coupons!!

my proud $12.00 stash.

 I love showing all of these deals to my husband...

brand loyal to this sunblock that sells between $12-13 each...With the sale at CVS, and coupons, I got each one for $5.

and on a final note, I take a lot of pride of always staying on top of laundry with our family of six.  I don't usually put my husbands clothes away, but today I wanted to get it all put away...I came to his shirt drawer, with my stack of "loosely" folded shirts, and found this...with my folding I could only get about half of those shirts in there...I am certain this is a by-product of him living on a submarine for six months...

so, with all of that said, it feels  great to be blogging again!!
Happy Thursday!!