Amber Dusick

Speaking of Detours - Free Diaper Bag Pattern

A friend of mine said finding the ultimate diaper bag is like the holy grail.  So true.  There is no one size fits all since number of kids, breastfeeding vs bottlefeeding, age of kids and cloth or disposable diapers, etc all come into play with what you need in a bag.  The moment you find the perfect bag your kid is older and your needs have changed. 

I'll never forget my first diaper bag as a new mama, it was HUGE!  Seriously, like a tank.  I carried an entire nursery in that thing.

Anyway, this free diaper bag pattern called "The Detour Diaper Bag" that I designed over the last several weeks is the perfect bag for me right now.  I've never been into traditional diaper bags, the shiny ones covered in plastic and housing 47 pockets so this one isn't like that either.  More of a large purse, really.

I worked very hard on this pattern and almost decided that selling it would be the way to go since it turned out pretty lovely.  Just a few more tweaks and an even more detailed tutorial and I could be ready to sell it.  Nah.  Free is a good price.  Enjoy! 

Have you ever found your "ultimate bag" or is this a continual quest for you too?

Creative Detours

Amber wrote a great post about re-evaluating your dreams for her Crafting My Life series today and it is something I've been thinking about a lot lately.    

I've described myself as being "constantly on creative detour" because everything I do opens up more ideas and I wind up doing something completely different than what I originally intended.

Nine years ago when I was first toying with the idea of quitting my "real world job" and becoming an artist  I thought I wanted to be a painter.  I bought an easel, paints, canvases and then got busy...sewing.  Oops...detour.  So maybe painting wasn't my calling.  It was sewing!  Except that I didn't really have the patience required to sew.  What I really loved was 3D design in clay but since I didn't have the space or budget for a ceramic studio I'd become a jewelry artist because it is 3D design on a small scale.  So I did.  I settled. 

I had a jewelry business.  I had a business name and it was registered with the state.  I paid taxes.  I had a business bank account.  It was, like, the real thing.  I was doing it!  Except I hated every minute of it and I wasn't selling very much.  Oops.  Wrong turn.

Then I had a baby and my creative focus was on baby related things.  Baby clothes, blankets and...wooden toys.  The wooden toys lead to my Etsy shop woodmouse.  My intention was to do it as a hobby and sell a few here and there.  Very quickly I couldn't keep up with demand.  I was creating stuff  that people wanted to buy!  And I enjoyed it!  Finally I had found what I was looking for and for a long time I was happy.  And then I wasn't.  Lack of sleep and missing out on family time had caught up with me. 

I couldn't keep going.  I was already exhausted most of the time since I was pregnant again.  It was around this time that my 2 year old said, "Mama gets mad when she works" and he was right.  I was burnt out.  I also owed it to my toddler who was growing up so fast to be present with him.  We needed time for lazy summer walks with no destination instead of our usual, "Hurry up, we have to get to the post office before it closes!" walks with me dragging him by the hand.  Oh how many times I told him to hurry when all he wanted to do was pick a dandelion.  Looking back now it makes me cry.    

So I closed the shop and spent the entire summer focused on my toddler and on the new baby that was growing in my belly.  My creative energy was soon focused on the house we bought and when my second son was born I drifted off in babyland for a few months.  Then I woke up.

I've spent the last summer and fall reflecting on what I need to feel fulfilled and I've discovered two things.  One, I need to create.  Two, I need to do it on my terms.  I can't afford sleepless nights or making my children hurry.  My family has to come first.  

So here I am.  I am bursting with creativity trying to find ways to get out.  I feel scattered and a little lost.  I've been dreaming, designing, planning, researching and scheming.  I'm not sure when I'll be ready to share my creations with the world again.  I'm not even sure if I will reopen woodmouse or if I'll be opening an entirely new shop.  Or maybe both.  Or neither!   

It feels good to be back at the start of a new journey...and I'm sure there will be many creative detours.

And you?  Have you found yourself on creative detours? 

 

1950s Themed Housewarming Party

We had a swell time at our 1950s themed housewarming party!  Our house was built in 1955 so we picked that as our theme to honor it.  Deviled eggs, my grandmother's meatball recipe, onion dip, ants on a log and Gin & Sin and Moscow Mule cocktails were some of the authentic highlights.

 

And of course my vintage dress, complete with an apron which I actually did wear at the start while putting out food.

The best part was as always, our guests...whom I have not a single photo of.  I think a party where I don't even have a moment to think to snap a photo during is a good one, indeed. 

Welcome to the heart of my home

Our housewarming party is this weekend and although I'd love for you to come I realize that a flight to Los Angeles probably isn't in the cards.  So.  I'll share pictures and we can pretend that you are here. 

I'll start with the heart of our home since everyone winds up in the kitchen at a party anyway, right?

I snapped the before photo when we toured the house, before we even put in an offer.  We knew immediately that this was the house.

Notice the 1955 knotty pine cabinets and original light fixtures?  I loved the scalloped design on the woodwork but the pine made an already small kitchen look smaller.  I was sad to paint it but I do love it white.  We enlarged and moved doorways, added a solar tube for light, painted, changed floors, tiled counters and even gutted a bathroom to get this:

Here it is from the other direction, before:

You can see we raised and arched the door frames to let in light and match the rest of the house.  The main thing to notice in the after photo is the pantry where there was a wall before.  On the other side of that wall was a bathroom and we gutted it, added a doorway (and closed the original one) and it is now our pantry.

The kitchen was so dark and sad before while now it has come to life.  We love it!  What is your favorite part of your home?  Where does everyone hang out when you entertain?

This post links up with Metamorphosis Monday!

 

We interrupt this program...

So, Haiti. 

Help.  (We donate to PIH)

The first sentence of this article makes me cry.  Especially as tomorrow is my 3 year old's first day of preschool and I'm already anxious.  

Hug your loved ones close.

 

 

Simplify: Wash & Moisturize

I'm still on the simplifying train for this post but I'll keep it short and sweet.  I wash my face with honey.  I moisturize with olive oil.  I've been using this combo for a little over a year now and my skin looks better than it ever has.  No breakouts - even during early pregnancy when hormones run wild. 

This combo works wonders for me, but everyone has different skin so it might be terrible for you.  Also, I highly doubt I'm saving money by using that raw honey...that stuff is expensive!  Still, I like the idea that the stuff I'm putting on my skin is stuff I could eat. 

From age 13 to 30 I tried every product imaginable.  Expensive moisturizers that guaranteed the glow of youth and cleansers that promised clear, flawless skin.  Who knew that my answer was waiting for me in the kitchen?

Simplify: Beauty

I've been working on simplifying my beauty stash for a couple of years now.  The issue for me was never figuring out how to get by with less products since I don't wear much make-up anyway, it was finding natural based products that didn't suck.  A lot of them do suck, so I'd keep buying different brands trying to find good stuff and after a few months I'd have a drawer full of natural products that I hated.  It took me a long time to get here, to this point where I can stop searching for new stuff.

Alima Pure Satin Matte Powder

Alima Pure Matte Blush

Foundation & Blush Brush

Honeybee Gardens JobaColors Eye Liner

WaterColors Nail Polosh

Just four items & two brushes.  I've tried nearly every "natural" brand there is and these two brands are my favorites.  Alima Pure is a must try if you want to switch to natural mineral cosmetics.  They sell samples that are huge and last forever.  And they have a container recycling program.  And they send organic chocolate with each order.  Honeybee has non-toxic polish that doesn't suck and stays on my toes.  That was hard to find!

I'm still having trouble with natural lip balm though.  Still haven't found my ultimate one.  Suggestions welcome! 

And you?  What is in your beauty stash?

 

 

Beez is our other kitty

I already wrote about Roman, our big fat cat who thinks he is a dog, but we do have another kitty.  Beez.  He is a "cat's cat" and I mean that quite literally, he is Roman's cat.  We adopted him for Roman. 

Roman was so high maintence that everyone said we needed a second cat as a playmate.  Eventually gave in and got Roman a cat because he really, really wanted one.  Enter Beez.

It worked out well, they are good friends and play all the time.  I just wish Roman would learn to scoop Beez's cat litter box because as it is now we're taking care of both of them. 

Beez is impossible to take photos of, he is camera shy.  Actually, he is everything shy.  While Roman is up in your face, Beez is up in a far off room hiding.  They couldn't be more different.

There are a distinct few people outside of our immediate family that he will be brave enough to hang out with.  My grandmother being one of them.  He also loves pregnant women.  Whenever a pregnant friend would come over he'd be right there on her lap. 

He has no teeth.  Zero.  He has some auto-immune problem where they all rotted and had to be removed.  Poor little gummy thing.  He scarfs food all the same, he eats like a pig.

So now you've met Beez, Roman's cat.  Now I can stop feeling guilty for not including him before.   

       

Paying the bills...what I do for a living

Working at home with two little ones is difficult.  But also awesome.  I realize that I never talk about "what I do" on this blog which seems odd because in real life I almost never shut up about it.  So what do I do? 

Well, besides being at home with two wee ones I also have a career or a job or whatever you want to call the thing you do that pays the bills.  I don't like to call it a career or a job because that sounds icky and what I do is not at all icky.  To make it brief, I do crafty stuff and then I write about it by stealing a few moments on my laptop.  That is it. 

What I do does have a proper name, most would call me an "infopublisher" or an "infopreneur" but that sounds lame.  Essentially, I built a website on a topic I'm interested in, like my first website "do it yourself weddings" and write a bunch of content that people are looking for.  People start to find my site and my traffic grows.  I put up advertising and get paid for every click.  With thousands of people visiting every single day these clicks add up...and I suddenly have a grownup career on my hands.

I started my first site on weddings when I was wedding planning six years ago.  My second site, Make Baby Stuff was started four years ago when I was pregnant.  We just renovated our first home this summer and what do you think I did?  Yep, started a DIY Home site.  Basically, my websites are an online extension of whatever I'm into at the time.   

The best part?  The freedom.  I work for myself and stay at home with my two kids yet make much more money than I ever did while working for someone else.  I can ignore my websites for days, weeks even and it doesn't matter in the long run.  I can work on writing a page while sitting on a blanket while my son plays in the sandbox.  I am so, so thankful every single day that I found SBI (the webhost I use for my sites) and took the leap into working for myself.  PS - you'll see my own video on that page, the 11th one down called "No more suits, no commutes"!  So embarrassing.   

So if you are not already doing what you love, I hope 2010 brings you closer.  

               

             

Happy New Year!

Who doesn't love a new year, a chance at a clean slate?  A fresh year ready to unravel before us.  Ripe with possibilities.  We make resolutions.  We'll be better people!  We'll do more.  Or we'll do less.  We'll cook dinners from scratch.  We'll save money and lose weight and take up yoga.  We'll travel and read novels.    This year will be different. 

Except that no matter my good intentions, come next January I won't remember what my resolutions were or if I had any at all.  

I don't make them usually.  I'm constantly evaluating where I am and what I'm doing and where I'd like to be and taking baby steps (or plugging my ears going "La la la") accordingly.  I don't need a holiday to remind me to do this I guess, we do it seasonally as a family also.  I have an ongoing mental to do list. 

Still, sometimes it helps to write things down where other people can see it.  Especially things that can otherwise be forgotten, tucked away behind closed doors.  Like my studio, that has made progress from what it looked like here to here: 

Progress, no?  No.  Trouble is, I get so little time for crafting now that when I do get a moment I run around  like a chicken with her head cut off trying to find stuff.  Which means more dumped out boxes on the middle of the floor because I only have 90 seconds before the baby wakes up to find craft supplies and make something. 

So in 2010 I will get this studio in order.  And drink more water.  And try yoga.  And cook meals from scratch and never yell at my kids.  And parachute out of an airplane.  And do more...no wait do less!  And... 

And... 

Okay, I'm making fun.  According to this, only about 12% of resolutions are kept.  Have you ever made one that you've kept?