New Custom Couture Creations by Two Bees...

Just wanted to pop in and let you know that I have added a few more items to the ETSY store today.  For those who aren’t familiar with ETSY,  it is an e-commerce website focused on handmade or vintage items as well as art and craft supplies. These items cover a wide range including art, photography, clothing, jewelry, food, bath and beauty products, quilts, knick-knacks, and toys…that you wiki-pedia!  If you have never been on the ETSY site (www.ETSY.com) you have to go right now and check it out!  And cross off about two hours…you will get completely lost in your finds!  I have a little store, aptly named, Two Bees and a Belle.  It is taking me a bit to get going, but slowly and surely, I am adding little creations to sell.  I have really been doing lots of behind-the-scenes work the past year, selecting patterns, researching fabrics and current trends in children’s clothing and sewing!  I have looked at many other designers on ETSY and the web, and have come to a few conclusions…

1.        I really like vintage inspired items and hope that my shop reflects an appreciation for the “up-cycled” approach

2.       As I am an artist, I really struggle with making 20 of the exact identical thing.  I like to make things that are unique and I think customers like for their creations to be unique as well.  If I wanted something cookie-cutter I would order it from a magazine!  This being said, I have decided at this point in time to just offer example of a pattern made up on my ETSY site, not 30 items made and ready to ship.  My hope is that customers will see a style that the like and write me a note saying “I know I want a reversible apron skirt in browns and teals for fall in a size 3…what can you come up with?”  At that point I would pull some fabric example from on-line and offer a few combos that I think would work.  Once fabric is selected, it will be ordered, and once it arrives we begin your own custom little creation. 

3.       I am completely committed to making cute couture item at a reasonable price that are one-of-a-kind!

So without further ado….this week’s three additions to the store are  (drum-roll please…..)
 

The Reversible Apron Skirt

https://www.etsy.com/listing/108107695/reversible-apron-skirt
(click blue links and it will take you directly to ETSY for a detailed description)

For sizes 2 T - 7

 

The Laurens Retro A-Line Dress (with leggings and headband if desired)

https://www.etsy.com/listing/106386812/size-4-laurens-retro-a-line-dress

For sizes 12 months – 8 years

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

and last but not least…

The Two Bees Jersey Knit Skirt

https://www.etsy.com/listing/108104847/two-bees-jersey-knit-skirt

Size 6 mth. – adult

 

And don’t forget to check out the hats that inspired me to create this skirt at https://www.etsy.com/listing/100443055/the-mary-kate-cloche-creamneutral-size  
 

....this hat paired with that skirt and leggings would be darling for fall!  You dream up a color combo and we will see if I can’t find it!

 I would love, love, love to hear your feedback on this! 

Happy Wednesday,

Jenny

Lil' Kitchen Makeover and Back to School!

I know it probably has appeared as though I fell off the face of the earth...well, kind of!  The past three weeks have flown...and the days have been so full!  The boys and I really tried to take in every moment of those last few summer days before school started.  As a family, we have taken multi-tasking to new Johnson lengths this month: getting everyone back into the school groove (two Johnson's in new schools), built book shelves, had a painter come spray paint trim in the basement and said bookshelf's (note to self: don't want to do this again - HUGE mess!), I have started a new part time job (or two) and been trying to wrap up, ohhh, like 10 different projects around the house.  C-R-A-Z-Y. Crazy I tell you!  That said, I should also add that I am loving my new career, being at home, to just be mom!  Kate are I are getting to know one another again, and it is so fantastic to be able to read books to the boys at bedtime and then not drag myself to put toothpicks in my eyes and grade artwork.  We are very grateful around here for all the new changes.  But I am so ready to get back in a routine and back to sharing with you, sewing and working on adding new fall items to the store!

Since last Christmas I have known that I wanted to refinish my old kitchen for Kate.  I received it for Christmas when I was four, and after pricing Pottery Barn kitchens (dear lord, I could buy a new appliance for that price) I was confident we could breathe new life into mine.  I love the size of it, but wanted to add a shelf, oven, and "update" the fixtures a bit.  I can't tell you how excited my dad was when I showed up at 8 pm one evening two week ago to cut wood and start this little project..really his excitement was underwhelming :)...but never the less, the helped me construct my "vision" and this is what we got! 

 The best part folks, I spent a whopping $30.00 to complete.  One can of oil rubbed bronze and cream spray paint later we have a little kitchen.  I found the oven handle and replacement knobs for $10.00 at a hardware store, basket at Home Goods for $6.00,  and had the tension rod and fabric.  To make it really authentic, I added a little light at the back, so the oven would "glow" and look like it was on. 

I think Kate has many years ahead of her to use this little guy.  I'm excited to play kitchen with her in our days ahead...and the bonus?  Bryce came home yesterday and said kitchen was his favorite center in Kindergarten.  Maybe I will get double use of of this old little guy yet!

 

 

I have sooo many fun things to share with you in the days ahead it almost hard to pick which one to start with first!  Stay tuned!



Skirting the Issue and a Winner!

This week I stitched my first item to enter in a contest!  The best part is (even better that the contest part) it is for a great cause!  The ladies over at Project Run and Play hosted a fantastic blog series in July that featured sewing bloggers each day with a skirt tutorial...over 50 skirt tutorials in all!  That's a lot of skirts!  All of the skirts demo'ed were bloggers own little creations, and let me tell ya', these girls are super creative!  The whole concept behind the series was that women all over the country (and world) could sew a skirt and donate it to a Utah-based foster care facility.   The people at the foster care center would then see that the skirts were put in the hands of young girls through high school ladies to start the school year.   I thought that this was such a great idea!  I was totally in.  This week I created my donation, loosely inspired by my hats I have been sewing.  The whole skirt was made from 1 XL man's t-shirt!  And to make the whole thing just a little more personal, I have contacted a social worker in Blue Springs to get my little skirt in the hands of a Blue Springs middle school-er...maybe even at one of the schools I taught at!

I am so happy that maybe this small little skirt might put a smile on the face of one of those little girls I had the privilege to work with in the past few years.  Maybe it will get her year off to a great start knowing that someone made something especially for her!  The goal was to have one hundred skirts to donate.  Well....as of today over 240 skirts have been sewn!

To read all about the contest, click on the button on the right side of this page that says "Skirting the Issue".  To see some of the other skirts donated, and there are some cute ones, click here to visit the Flickr group.

And Congratulations to Heather Nelson Deyerle!  She is the winner of the Star-Fish Pillowcase!  Thanks all who entered!

What's For Dinner Board

These past few weeks I have been an organizing nut around here.  Nothing has been left unturned, much to the boys dismay!  It feels so great to start the school year off organized!  For me if I can put my hands easily on things it just makes for a much happier mamma.  I was looking for a good little chart on Pinterest to organize meal planning weekly and I stumbled across this magnetic board that some very clever person had made!  Click here for original link and directions on my pin board.)  I thought this was the cutest idea!  So I pulled out my trusty Hobby Lobby coupon and set off to make my version.  The days of the week are magnets so that you can attach your recipes by day.  There is a little pocket to hold your standby recipes in, plus I added a few for fun...kid's choice, breakfast for dinner, Eat Out, etc.  There is a little post it pad attached to add grocery store items to as well.  In conjunction with my iPhone app called Cozi Family Planner, I am now quite dangerous when it comes to planning meals!  I have most of our standby recipes saved in my Cozi recipe box which, with the click of a button, I can add to a grocery list!  So cool!  So far, the boys seem to enjoy offering suggestions of what we have and when.
Now all I need to do is cook....hmmmmm.



Don't forget to enter the contest for the free pillow giveaway!
This pillowcase is 20" x 20"  - 18" (insert not included) burlap and felt with envelope closure.
To enter just write me a little comment in the box below.  If you share this link on your Facebook page, enter a second comment below that says "shared you on FB" and you will be entered twice!
A winner will be selected Sunday evening - cutoff for entering 7 pm CST.

(don't have a Google account?  That's ok!  Just choose to comment Anonymously - but don't forget to leave your email in the comment box so I can contact you if you win!)

Good Luck!

Jenny

The Great Chair Makeover and our First Giveaway!

These cute little chairs have a story.  I really like for anything I have in my home to have a "background"...so this is the tale of the two great chairs!   It all started way back in April when I put our yucky stained couch out for the trash having no idea what I would replace it with.  It was about that same time we were contacted about having a commercial filmed in our front yard, to which ends the producer wanted to "house" the production crew in my house while they filmed!  First reaction..."very cool".  Second reaction "crud, just put the couch in the trash and we have no furniture.  I quickly pulled my grandma's 1960's Danish Modern couch out of storage, reupholstered the cushions in a weekend and then started my hunt for chairs.  A quick trip to downtown Lee's Summit yielded nothing under 400.00....a chair.  Off to Craig's List!  That is where I found these two totally unique gems...really it was love at first sight!  I love the caved details at the top and they were the perfect size for what I wanted.  I pined over them for weeks. Even called the lady and asked if she would work on the price with me...She was asking 150.00 for both chairs, but she declined. I hung up and decided "wasn't meant to be!" Needless to say, I only had a small couch for the production crew, but it all worked out since we crammed about 40 people in this tiny house that day!

Fast forward to Mother's Day... you can imagine how ecstatic I was when Greg walks in the door with my chairs!!  Now all I needed to do was recover them!  That process took a bit longer than I had hoped with the end of school and other activities, but they are finally done, and I couldn't be more pleased with them!  All total with the fabric, which I found dirt cheap at a warehouse, I think I spent about 175.00 for two chairs...not too shabby, huh!  And most importantly, I love them!!  I love that they were made in Kansas City (if you know anything about the furniture Co. on the tag, I would love to hear!).  I love that they aren't perfect...nothing that comes into a house with three kids and two dogs should be!  I  love the texture of the burlap pillows.

The burlap pillows I kind of dreamed up.  I was having a hard time matching the khaki in the hounds-tooth and it just so happened that the burlap I had on the kitchen table was a complete match.  I added a felt silhouette of a starfish to tie in with my summer seashells theme in the living room.  Now the living room feels like a beachy escape....ok, that might be a stretch!

So how about winning one of 

these starfish pillows?  

All you need to do is leave a comment 

on this post!

It's super simple to do!  Just go to the bottom of the page where you see the drop down menu and "comment as".  At the end of that scroll list, if you don't have a blog or Google account, just click anonymous...just make sure to leave a comment and your e-mail address so if you win I can contact you!

Share it on Facebook and get an extra entry!  Just add a second comment that says "shared on Facebook".

The winner will be announced Sunday night - entries must be in by 7:00 CST.

Johnson Family Vacation 2012

Where has July gone!  We left for a week to travel to Colorado for our family vacation, and when we got back everyone was shocked to learn that summer is almost over!  We had an excellent time in Estes Park, Colorado last week.  The weather was PERFECT!  Yes, I am screaming PERFECT!  The weather here however....well, lets just say we are well out of the mid 70's that the Johnson's had grown accustomed to last week.  I just wanted to share a few pics from the vacation.  Ok, maybe more than a few...I had a really hard time narrowing it down!    Everyone did such a great job traveling!  We look forward to returning to Estes again next year.  I am always stuck as we drive across Kansas on the way home how when we left we were members of a family co-existing with our own things all going on, and when we return we are a family.  All on the same page, enjoying each others company, not really ready to re-enter the craziness of "real life"...but that's what makes "a vacation" a vacation, right!?

Good Morning Mountains!  Thanks to Kate, we had the breathtaking opportunity to see the sunrise over the mountain almost every morning...speechless.

Kate quickly figured out if she wanted out of the stroller, she had to hold someone's hand :)

That water is c-o-l-d!  Alluvial Fan, Rocky Mt. Natl. Park

Momma doesn't go much higher than this...
 but Dad always tries!

Colorado Kate

Bryce finally in Colorado...all school year, every day, he would ask "Can we go to Colorado on Thursday?"...It's finally Thursday lil buddy!

Is he getting older of what!? Where did my baby go :(?

Does it get any better than ice cream every night!?

after every bite..."mmmmmmm"

skipping rocks turned into heaving boulders..my boys "move mountains"

I think, my favorite pic of the whole trip!  Good job Dad...perfectly captures the moment and how we all felt about being here together!

Enjoy these last few days of summer!

Jenny

Happy Fourth of July and A String of Pearls

Happy Fourth of July everyone!  I hope you had an opportunity to relax with friends and family and enjoy celebrating!  We have had a busy last few days here!  Lots…and I mean LOTS, of fireworks!  The boys have been in hog-heaven shooting off their bag of 4^th of July goodness.  In the evening we have been able to enjoy big “professional” displays at both our neighborhood and my parent’s.  I had lofty dreams of a darling little family photo with everyone sporting their red, white, and blue outfits…but trying to organize this resembled herding cats.  In reality, the boys couldn’t be pulled away from the explosives, and Mary Kate was less than cooperative posing with Dad.  Oh well, I tried! 

As far as sewing goes, not a ton getting accomplished here this week as the boys are out of summer school now and “nap-time” is looking a bit different!  I did manage to whip up Kate’s little stars and stripes top Monday, but it was such a quick task!  I am still working on a “top secret” project when the time permits.   I am so anxious to show you!  But on to today's main attraction....

I wanted to give you a little peek at a pretty sweet little birthday present my clever husband put together for Kate last month.  Poor Kate’s birthday got postponed twice, so somewhere in between postponement #2 and the real deal Greg decided to just go ahead and give Kate her gift from him and the boys.  I. Was. Blown. Away.  In a very special little box was a note from him and the boys and a beautiful pearl necklace.  The very cool thing about this necklace is that you can add a pearl for any special occasion that warrants a pearl!  He had done some research on the internet and discovered the idea, but could only find one jewelry company in Kansas City that carried them.   The woman that sold it to him explained that her three daughters each were given one by their grandmother for their first birthday, then grandma added to it each year.  By the time they got married they had a full string of pearls!  So the first three pearls on Kate's will all be the same size (you can choose different sizes for different dollar amounts J ).  These first three pearls will represent Greg and the boys so Kate will always remember that her three boys gave it to her.  And the note….ahhhhh.  Well, it talked about a lot of things I try not to think about just yet….birthdays, first dates, marriage, etc).  Dad really outdid himself on this first gift…in his own words "home run!"

Have a great Friday everyone!

Jenny