i'm good in a clutch

alright, i'm here. i'm alive. i'm we're growing. (what can i say...it's number 5 people. and i just don't have unbelievably good genes like some people {i'm looking at YOU, katy dill})

so, a while back i ran a little "thank you" giveaway.
the winner was ms. ana @ imadeitso. today she posted a nice little thank you on her blog about the clutch she recieved. (go read it, i'll wait. no really, go ahead...i love when people say nice things about me.) 

but...

apparently there was some dissention in the bloggy world. i guess i should use the term "winner" loosely, because some felt that all was not fair in blogging and giveaways. {now i'm TOTALLY looking at YOU, lisa}

hey, not to make lame excuses or anything, but let's just get it on the record that clearly it wasn't the allergy meds throwing me off whack...making me want to sleep 19 hrs a day...making me too lazy to do cutesie shots of googies picking numbers. (but i didn't know that at the time)

however...

i'm never one to alienate my faithful zombies followers readers.

so look what i've been hard at work on:

these pretty clutches are all ready to go into my etsy shop.

 want one?

okay, you can buy one--as soon as i list them. and to list them, i must price them.

so tell me, dear readers--

how much would you pay for a leather clutch like this?

leave me a comment letting me know.

and, to appease the whiners my friends, i will RANDOMLY choose one commenter to get a free clutch of their choice!

TOTALLY, COMPLETELY, 100% RANDOMLY. scout's honor. cutesie googie shots GUARANTEED.

ahem.

SO...

get cracking--light up my comments section, tell your friends, tell your enemies, tell your mom--tell me how much to charge!

(open to anyone anywhere with a mailing address--except for you ms. ana...wouldn't want any more scandal, now would we? contest runs until 11/7/2010)

10/24/98

i was sooo young. (we both were) 

some people thought i was waaaayyy too young to be making such a momentous decision.

it was THE BEST DECISION OF MY LIFE.



happy anniversary, mr. googiedaddy.





12 years, 4 1/4 little monkeys, lots of tears, tons of laughter. happy times, sad times, scary times, exciting times. i'd do it all again in a heartbeat.

12 down, forever to go.


uggghhh...i was so skinny :o(

a sew-ey tale

nce upon a time, in a land far, far away, there lived a princess. her name was shan..er...ella. yes, shanerella. she was beautiful, and kind, and thin, and tall, and had legs that went for miles, and a beautiful wardrobe...and...well, it's my story alright?

anyway, our fair princess went to the market one day (because she was also very humble and did all her own shopping even though she was a princess) where she saw an adorable bag.

and the princess thought, "i can totally make that myself. you know, on my spinning wheel."

so the princess went home, and documented all the steps to making her super royal princess bag on her royal camera. she took royally awesome pictures of the cutting, the sewing, the measuring...

and then! the princess had an...uhhh...evil stepmother! who dipped the royal SD card in POISON! and so all the photos were lost.

and so, even though princess shanerella had her lovely royal purse for shlepping around all her royal...stuff, she never posted anything on her blog.

and the kingdom was sad.

but wait! the princess had married the handsome prince charming. and he found her so irresistable that it wasn't long before another royal baby was on the way.

and thus the princess found herself spending much of her time at the porcelain throne, instead of the royal throne. and she was in need of something to post on her royal blog.

so she decided, even without step by step photos, she would put up pictures of her bag. because she still likes it.

and they all lived happily ever after.

i saw a bag with this circle design at ross. (and i've since seen it in a lot more places) it was one of those things where you IMMEDIATELY come home and start sewing--regardless of whatever else you had planned to do for the rest of the day.

the outside is made of a light yellow leather. the inside fabric is a fairly thick upholstery weight. i stole the rings for the strap from an old purse i had laying around.

there are definitely things i would change if i were to make another one (like adding some inside pockets to keep it more organized), but it's served me well. (even when baby bear dumped a container of tomato sauce from her breadsticks at target in it. true story.)

and the funniest thing was a little while later i found this post about a bag becky had gotten for herself on a trip to finland! the similarity is so weird! i definitely like her handles better, but like i said--mine was very spur of the moment!

i cut soooo many of these leather circles! a punch would have been nice...but alas (sorry, still in princess mode).

and this was my prince charming hubby's idea:

a little hidden birdy. kind of a hide and seek.
this idea is something i would like to play with more--different simple shapes hidden under different circles. so from the outside it's a stylish bag for mom, but it's also a little interactive game for the kiddos.

you wouldn't believe how long just this one hidden item keeps baby bear amused. imagine if there were 10 or 15 little things under different circles?!!?
what do you think?