The Holiday Aftermath

Tweet I don’t know about you guys, but I have had just about enough cookies, treats, and butter-laden foods.  It’s a good thing I decided to take a few days off the business because I’ve been busy digesting!  These have been my main source of nutrition lately – on the left are candy cane marshmallows, and on the right are double chocolate truffles.



As promised, here are pictures of the AWESOME play kitchen that Santa refinished for the kiddos.  Bridget has been making lots of cakes and Graham is so happy to have cabinets he’s actually allowed to open.  Thank goodness they like it because it takes up half of our living room.



We took the doors off, sanded the whole thing, and spray painted it semi-gloss white.  I painted the blue trim on the fridge, the double oven scene, and the cook top with acrylic craft paint and sprayed it down with sealer.  The paper in the hutch is just scrapbook paper I Mod Podged on.



We found most of the stuff at our local Menards that went out of business a few months back.  We even found a sheet of fake granite laminate, so the play kitchen even has swanky countertops!  Kenny cut all the knobs using a hole saw and the hardware was super cheap.  I think we probably spent about $75 total (the play kitchen was given to us when B’s preschool replaced theirs).

 

The kids weren’t the only spoiled ones – my keeper of a husband bought me an iPad!  I was completely shocked and have been glued to the thing for days (except for Christmas day, when my mom hogged it all day to play Angry Birds).  I’ve been playing around with some business apps, so sometime soon I’ll give you guys my recommendations.  If you know of any good ones, let me know!  I’m totally app-downloading-crazy right now!

Did you guys get anything ridiculously awesome?  And please tell me I’m not the only one that hasn’t recuperated from Christmas yet!

Christmas-palooza!

Tweet Since finishing up all my business sewing on Sunday, there hasn’t been much going on around here bobaloo!-wise except for packing up orders and shipping them to lucky kiddos.  But I haven’t been just sitting around watching my stories and eating bon-bons – it’s been Christmas-palooza around here!

We decorated some Christmas tree cookies using an awesome paint-your-own cookie kit from my Aunt…



We got some snow (although not NEARLY as much as other parts of the midwest)…



We made our annual gingerbread houses, using this cute Gingerbread Village Kit…



And we cut out and baked some salt dough ornaments, which are now ready to be painted and glittered and entered into the Prudent Baby contest…



I hope you all are enjoying the holiday season, too!  Blogging may be a little sporadic ‘round these parts for the next two weeks while I spend some much-needed time with the fam, but I promise I’ll check in at some point.  Saturday is the Handmade Promenade Last Minute Market, so I’m sure I’ll want to fill you guys in on how it went!

What’s on This Santa’s Handmade Gift List

Tweet I mentioned earlier this week that I really want to show you guys what handmade gifts I’m planning on making.  I figured I can share a few without specifying who they’re for and hope most of my family doesn’t read this blog post.  I have almost finished up the business sewing, so next week is going to be a mad frenzy to finish the gifts!



I’m going to embroider some tea towels using patterns from The Sublime Stitching Craft Pad, which I bought YEARS ago.  I love love love Jenny Hart’s embroidery!  There are some awesome Parisian patterns (plus a unicorn on roller skates!) that I think I may use.



I’m using this tutorial from Hope Studios and some pink striped knit to make a couple of ruffled scarves.  I’m excited about this one – I think it’s going to be a super quick, super cute project.

 

A couple of years ago I made a trash bag to hang in my car.  I fused together a couple layers of Target plastic bags (how-to here), used them as a liner for some home dec fabric, and added a webbing strap with a snap.  It hooks around the headrest of the passenger seat.  My husband has been whining since I made it that he wants one for his car.  Guess who this is going to?



I’m going to use this tutorial from Sew, Mama, Sew! to make a laptop sleeve.  I have some super awesome turquoise and orange home dec weight fabric that will be PERFECT.  I think I’m going to do a velcro closure and sew on a vintage button from my stash.



I’m making a couple of these ADORABLE gathered clutches (tutorial here from Noodlehead).  I’m for sure going to take one to my wonderful stylist Claire, who has finally tamed my unruly hair and will forever have my gratitude.  Little does she know I’m bringing her my daughter tomorrow, who was cursed blessed with the same head of hair.



I think these fabric covered clothespins from Prudent Baby are going to be my gift tags this year.  I’m probably going to wrap gifts with butcher paper and tie on some red and white twine (which I just ordered here), so I think these little clothespins will look sooooo cute.

 

Word on the street is the bobaloo is getting an American Girl doll for Christmas.  This has been top on her list (“I want a ‘merican girl doll with purple stuff and a pink sewing machine and fabric and a sign for my room that says no cats”) so I’m pretty stoked for her.  I made the pillows and quilt using this tutorial from From an Igloo and they turned out awesome (those little pillowcases!  couldn’t you just die?!).  I’m trying to talk the hubs into making the bed from Ana White, but we’ll see.

Our biggest project right now is for the kids – we’re refinishing a play kitchen.  It’s one from B’s preschool, so it’s super sturdy, but it’s got years of kids banging on it under its belt.  When this is done I’m for sure sharing pictures because it’s turning out AWESOME.  Is it wrong to be disappointed that Santa’s getting all the credit for this one?

What are you guys making?

Keepin’ it Legal

Tweet I am determined to get all the legal-y business stuff I’ve had on my to-do list done by the end of this year.  I probably should have started much earlier considering I have another show to prepare for, my Etsy store to keep stocked through the holiday rush, and a silly long list of Christmas gifts I wanted to make for friends and family.  I did cross one thing off my list, so that’s progress, right?

1. File my “Doing Business As” paperwork.  This is technically titled the “Certificate of Firm or Partnership Engaged in Business
   Under Name Other Than Their Own” here in Marion County (whew, what a mouthful).  This is basically just officially stating that I am doing business under the name bobaloo!, and it serves as a link between the business name and my name.  This has been on my to-do list on the left sidebar since I started this blog way back in July.  All I had to do was print out the paper, write a check for $14.50, and stick it in the mail to the Marion County Recorder’s Office.  Why did it take me so long?  Oh, this is the one that’s actually done as of yesterday morning.
2. Get my license to collect sales tax.  I really tried to knock this one out yesterday.  Evidently you can do this online here in Indiana, but I ran into a problem with the online system and didn’t have time to call an actual person today.  I swear I’ll try again soon. 
3. Find an accounting system.  I’m using a spreadsheet I bought on Etsy, which has been working pretty well for me.  I’d definitely recommend it – I use it to manage both my inventory and sales, plus it generates reports.  I think I’d like to try out something that will help me out at tax time.  Has anyone used Quick Books?  I tell you what, if someone out there made software for Etsy sellers, they’d make a fortune!
4. Meet with an actual accountant.  I’ve always done our taxes (I’m the money manager in our house), but I feel like I may be in over my head with business income on top of our regular stuff.  My friend Lisa’s mom is an accountant, so I really need to give her a call, too.

This tax and legal stuff honestly makes my head spin.  Hopefully meeting with the accountant will help me at least sort the tax stuff out.

On an unrelated note, I really really want to tell you guys about the handmade gifts I have planned, but a bunch of the recipients probably read my blog and I don’t want to ruin any surprises.  I hope I have time for it all – I’ve already switched my plan around a couple of times and settled for gifts handmade by someone else.  Anybody else feel like they'll never finish their Christmas gifts?  I hope your holiday planning is going better than mine!

Holiday Madness and a Giveaway!

Tweet My very first blog giveaway is going on over at luvinthemommyhood!  Shannon contacted me a while back with some very sweet comments about my shop and I’m so happy to have my inaugural giveaway at her blog.  Go check it out – there’s even a special discount!



Speaking of giveaways, don’t forget my giveaway to celebrate 20 followers that’s coming up right here!  I have a special goody for you guys (and maybe a kiddo in your life) all planned out.  It will definitely help your holiday shopping!  So if you haven’t already, click “follow” over on the left side of the screen so you don’t miss it.

I’ve been sewing like mad to get my Etsy shop ready for the holidays.  I’m trying to make multiples of everything to make the best use of my limited amount of time.  I cut out 27 bibs the other day, people. 27!!  And last night I got to work on a whole mess of crayon aprons.  Those two tend to be my best sellers at shows, so I’m stocking up!  Doing a bunch of the same thing saves time in lots of ways – it’s quicker to pick fabrics, one photo shoot covers a stack of stuff, and clicking “relist” on Etsy when something sells is much easier than writing a whole new listing.



I’m also frantically trying to fill up the ol’ inventory wardrobe because I signed up for ANOTHER holiday show!  I was going to be part of a holiday show at our airport, but unfortunately it got cancelled.  The very next day Martha of Sunday Afternoon Housewife fame emailed me and invited me to be a part of the Handmade Promenade Last Minute Market.  Funny how things work out, right?  It’s going to be way cool – it’s a nighttime show at a restaurant and there’s even live music!  I have a family event about two hours away that morning, so it’s going to be a really hectic day, but I’m REALLY looking forward to it!

Here are a few new products that are coming to the shop this week.  I have so many listings all ready to go that I can hardly wait to share them!