Sunday, October 20, 2013

Catch up!

It's been awhile.  I've been very busy.  Since Yahoo has decided to change everything and made it extremely difficult to like them anymore, I thought I would put my latest photos here, rather than attempting to put them in my groups.

First, here is this week's progress on Mary's Sampler.  I'm stitching both versions and giving them as Christmas gifts.  I think they're coming out very nicely!
 Version 1

 Version 2


Our shop, Treasure Chest of Friends, is having a FB party next Saturday evening.  We're also going to be in a craft show at my church on November 9.  And, Halloween is next week and Mariah INSISTS that I had to crochet her costume!  So, I've been doing lots of crocheting lately.  I finished her trick or treat bag last night.  She's going to be Minnie Mouse and wanted a Cat in the Hat trick or treat bag so that the mouse would be carrying the cat!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month.  In honor of that, we're having a sale this month.  All Pink Ribbon scarves are $10 with $5 going to the American Breast Cancer Foundation.  Normally, this scarf is sold in any color for $15.  In addition, ALL sales this month will see 1% going to the ABCF.  I've crocheted several of these already this month!


For our FB party, any sales that are made by 9pm CST on the 26th, will get 10% off if they use coupon code FALLBALL.

I've been stitching away on prizes for the party.  I've gotten several almost completed, so my next post will have pictures of them.

I've started a new temp assignment this week.  I'm working from 9:45 to 6:15 pm every day and I'm exhausted by the time I get home.  I only get 30 minutes for lunch so I'm not getting a lot done during the week!

Working outside of the home causes a lot of problems with Rich and Mariah.  Neither one of them can cook well.  Rich is not able to help Mariah with most of her schoolwork.  And although he doesn't mind helping with housework, his idea of helping is usually a disaster!  For instance, since we eat a lot of salads, I bought a large bag of salad from GFS for $5.  Rich & Mariah decided to help me out while I was at work Tuesday and broke it down into smaller bags with our Food Saver.  Yay!!  This way it doesn't go bad before we use it all.  When I got home, I went to the freezer to get some ice for water.  I found 3 of the 6 bags there.  Rich decided that they would keep better if he froze them.  Oh, well, into the garbage they went!  He tried.  And  alot of husbands wouldn't have done that.  So, I'm trying to make enough working from home that when this assignment ends in March, my home income will replace my temp work and I can stay home.

 To that end, I've started working as a rep for a new candle company.  Jewelry in Candles was started this year and has exploded in growth in the last month.  My shop took me 5 minutes to set up and I've already started earning money and have 1 rep working with me!  Unlike a lot of direct sales companies (Pampered Chef, Thirty-One, etc), there is NO start up costs at all.  Our candles are 100% natural soy, with lead-free wicks, and a 100-150 burning time.  Every candle has a piece of jewelry hidden inside worth anywhere from $10 to several thousands of dollars.  You get to pick whether you want a necklace, earrings, or ring in size 6-9.  Or, you can let us choose for you!  Each candle is made to order and ships within 5 business days.  Even the tarts have jewelry in them!  And, you can combine tarts to make new scents.  Put the Chocolate Fudge and the Strawberry together in a warmer for a Chocolate Covered Strawberry!



We have a number of collection scents to choose from.  Or buy just one to try!



If you should choose to buy one from My shop, you may use code SHOPWITHME  and get a 20% discount.

Well, it's getting late & I need to get things ready for work tomorrow.  How has your week been??

Thursday, September 12, 2013

New Surroundings

St. Charles

Well, we've been here in St. Charles, MO for about a month now.  Things are going great!  We found a beautiful apartment.  It's a little pricey, and a little smaller than we want to stay in permanently, but very nice.  The complex has about 1000 apartments in it.  What will Halloween be like??  It also has a pool and a clubhouse that you can rent for parties.

We found a church nearby that we really like.  It's small, but very active and very friendly.  They are very accepting of both Rich & Mariah.  Rich has already been in one dartball game!  Their team has won a whole display case full of trophies and they play once a week so it'll be great for Rich.  The Women's Guild is not so active, but there are other women's groups that are.  The Sunday School has a tent room where the walls and ceilings are covered with fabric to make the kids feel that they are in a tent in the desert listening to the Gospel.  They have a movie theater room with theater seating and a movie screen to watch VeggieTales and other movies or puppet shows.  Mariah already loves being there.

Mariah started a homeschool co op yesterday.  Classes change from month to month.  This month she will be taking classes on Wednesdays only.  She has a class on Missouri history every Wednesday morning.  In the afternoon, she will have an art class and then some other type of class.  This week, her afternoon classes were Domino Math and a literature class on works about tornados.  She had a ball and wants to go every day!  I told her I'd see how things go for next month.

We've done some exploring in the area, but not too much.  It has been so hot here that we've mostly been staying inside.  It's supposed to cool down today so maybe this weekend we'll go back over to historic St. Charles and go through some more of the buildings there.

Treasure Chest of Friends

Our Facebook party went great!!  We made enough in sales to pay for the website next month.  Since we've only been open 3 months now, that's awesome!  Thank you to everyone who participated.  We had a great time!  We're planning another one for October, so watch for the date.  If you haven't already checked us out, please do so!  Treasure Chest of Friends  We are also on Facebook and Pinterest!  We add new things to the store every day.  Here are just a few of the things that we've added this last week





I've been busy working on a backpack for Mariah.  I finished it the other night for her to take to her first day of classes yesterday.  I need to make some adjustments - the buttons need to be bigger so I'll have to switch them out.  



I've also been busy crocheting lots of stuff to fill orders and prizes for the shop, so I haven't had much stitching time for myself.

Stitching

I was able to get a little stitching in on Fright Night Friends.  Here's my progress so far. 


I'm trying to get it finished by so that I can make it into a table runner to use for Halloween, but it's getting close!  I may have to work on it a little bit on days other than our SAL days!

My friend, Mary Louise is having a giveaway over on her blog.  She's celebrating her 4 year blogaversary.  Head on over there and check out her blog.  It's really good!  Mary Louise's blog

Well, until next time - Happy Stitching!

Friday, July 19, 2013

And the winner is. . .




 Thank you to everyone entered the giveaway!