Halloween Designs!

OK, so I know that it's still July, but if you're like me with a mile-high list of holiday projects, now is the time to get that jump-start! I put together this short video montage of my latest Halloween designs! You can find them at SWAKembroidery.com!

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Wrap-Up of Moms Who Make It Conference 2009

This last week I had the opportunity to not only attend, but also be a workshop speaker at the "Moms Who Make It" Conference! The event was sponsored by CreatedbyMom.com and was a wonderful opportunity to meet new friends as well as learn so much about businss, motherhood, creativity, living a joyful life, and so much more. My cup was filled!

And what a day! The event began at 9 in the morning and finished around 11 that evening. It was so great to be able to see old friends and meet new ones as well. Four of us from YouCanMakeThis.com were able to attend the event. It was so great to hang out with my pals, Sherrie and Shelli all day long! Such positive, upbeat, strong women. Love them.

It was also great to meet up again with some friends we've met in the blogging world... Marie of Make and Takes, Rachel of Todays Mama, and Jyl of Mom It Forward.

One of my favorite workshops to attend was taught by Melissa of RawMelissa.com. With some health issues I have had lately, I was so intrigued to listen to her and could have easily sat and listened to her the entire day! What a warm and genuine person she was as well. I look forward to continuing to learn from her in the future. If you are looking to change the way you eat to a healthier lifestyle, this gal is a true inspiration!

As mentioned earlier, I had the opportunity to also teach a small break-out session during the conference! My topic was all about Holiday Gift-Giving and Decorating on a Budget. It was a lot of fun to prepare for and I brought a ton of examples with me so that attendees could get a first-hand look at the ideas I was sharing.

It was also fun to be in the audience to watch Kim as they had invited her to be the keynote speaker at the conference. She spoke about "Using Creativity to Build the Life You Want." Of course since I've been with YCMT since Day 1, I knew a lot of the story behind how it all happened, however just hearing her share this story actually was very touching to me and brought a tear to my eye. To think of how it has grown over the past 3 years is something that we would have never imagined was possible. The most wonderful part about however is that it's a story that can happen to anyone who wants to build the life they really want. Kim is a great motivator and believes that anyone can do anything they set their mind to. I believe that more than ever because of her example.

Kim shared this formula about creativity that I just love. It reads, "Creativity + Action = Creation." So true!

While there, we were also able to set up an information booth about YouCanMakeThis.com, SWAKembroidery.com, and YouCanQuiltThis.com. It allowed attendees to be able to see some of the creations that could be made through e-books from the sites. Shelli and Sherrie did a beautiful job of putting this display table all together!

And finally, it was just a wonderful experience to be able to meet some new friends as well! Such people as the dynamic-duo husband/wife team behind MomFaves.com! Josh and Rebecca are amazing entrepreneurs and their new site is already gaining momentum and I couldn't be happier for them! If you don't know about MomFaves, you've got to go check it out!

Then there's the ever-so-hilarious, Sugar Jones of www.SugarJones.tv. What a hoot! You can't help but just love her from the first moment you are around her. So, so funny, witty, and just an all-around great person.

In one of the sessions, Sugar was able to interview a local celeb here, Nicea DeGering from the local television station. It was so fascinating to hear her take on work/home balance. I loved every minute of their conversation together.

It was also a real treat to meet Joanie of KeepingUpWithMom.com. She's got a lot of fun inside of her and her blog is very real, very funny, and very cool.

And finally, talk about how small the world is when you get to meet someone who had never met before, and she ends up being a very good friend of your sister-in-laws who grew up on the same street as her years ago? This was the case when I met the most likeable person out there- Jennifer. She was the special correspondent representing BoutiqueCafe.com and was able to conduct interviews and share highlights with their readers while attending the conference. So Tami, this picture is for you! :)

OK, and on a final, FINAL note, (I know this has been a long post so thank you for reading!!), how cute is this pic? Oh my. A most delicious lunch from Normandie's. You know me and my intrigue with packaging. I was so thrilled that the inside was just as delicious as the outside of the box looked. Talk about presentation. And the food... amazing.

Overall, just a wonderful day! Thank you to Quinn and Emily who did such an amazing job of organizing it all. We appreciate you providing such a fantastic experience for women of all ages to enjoy!

The Birthday Party Filled with Little Chefs + a Freebie!

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July weekend! Wow...where did last week all go? It sure seemed to fly by fast.

Last week was my daughter's birthday! She has been having so much fun in the kitchen recently, we thought it would be fun to invite some friends over to do some baking!

When trying to decide what kind of party favor to give to the children, an apron or a chef's hat immediately came to my mind. What a bonus it was to be in Hobby Lobby one day when I noticed the children's aprons were 50% off! Boy, I couldn't pass that up. All my party favors TOTALED to less than 10 bucks! Woohoo!

So I went ahead and drew a little pizza slice and digitized it for the aprons. Being inspired by my friend Jennie of Homeberries, I loved the tutorial she put together for SWAK 101 on coloring in outlines. So fast to stitch out, I knew that was the perfect option for embellishing the aprons and letting the kids in on the fun by coloring!

Once their pizzas were colored in, on went the aprons and we were ready to begin cooking!

The pizzas were easy-peasy to make. All I did was buy canned biscuit dough at the store and the kids spread them out in the pans. (Washing hands first of course!) Then it was time to spread on the sauce!

Then of course the cheese...

...And lots of it! It was hilarious watching them all make their own versions of pizza.

And then into the oven they went!

While those baked, it was time to move onto dessert! We had the "Top Chef" competition to see who could come up with the best cookie concoction. Oh, it was great! The things they came up with were fantastic. Packaged sugar cookie dough divided into sections was the easiest way to put this all together. We set out candy and let them go for it!

Of course they didn't quite realize that this...

...would soon turn into this once baked! LOL!

And finally, you know when you think you've got everything planned just right, and then you realize you really don't? As we're getting ready to bring out the cake, I discovered that I had forgotten the candles! Ug! So my cute husband made do with what we had, and this was how her cake was presented!

Of course she loved it and probably will never forget it as well. Whatever works! :)And getting a great big hug from the birthday girl was the best payment of all. What a kid!

If you have an embroidery machine, I've got this pizza slice design waiting over at SWAK for you and you may download it for FREE! If you don't use it now, it may just be something to keep in your files for sometime down the road. Enjoy!

Have a great week!