Check me out at  http://stellasola-boutique.blogspot.com/

Hope to see you over there!

You all know how much I love to sew.  I’ve been sewing for over 4 years, almost as long as Aidan has been around.  Quite honestly, she’s my sewing Raison d‘être.  I had no urge or desire to sew before she was born…that was my mother’s arena and I was more than happy to leave it there.  For years friends and family have been prodding and cajoling and encouraging me to go into business for myself, selling the garments I’ve made and to be truthful, fear is what has kept me from doing so.

Shortly after the new year, an old friend of mine from Houston and I were talking on Facebook and she was talking about a woman that had come into her shop (my friend owns an ADORABLE little boutique in League City) trying to get her to sell her pillowcase dresses.  She told me that they were poorly made, with exposed seams inside that will fray after washing, and she used cheap fabric.  On top of all that, she wanted to price the dresses at $25.00 each.  I can’t tell you what posessed me to jump out there but I asked her if I could bring in some of my work to show her since I’d be in the area in a week.  She was thrilled.

I sewed up a couple of pillowcase dresses and a couple of A-line dresses using some of my good woven cotton quilting fabric and lined everything so there were no exposed seams.  When I took them into her boutique she LOVED them!  I even got a custom order from one of her bow vendors while I was in there (we traded services, she makes GORGEOUS bows!)

The success of getting my dresses in her boutique and the custom order buoyed my confidence.  I set up a Facebook fanpage and have sold 3 dresses directly off of that site in the last 2 weeks.  I established my line’s name “Stella Sola | Handcrafted Boutique Items for Children”, had clothing tags made up and finally, earlier this month, took the big step of establishing an Etsy shop online.

I’m so excited to FINALLY be doing this!  In about a month, I’ve made nearly 20 dresses.  The thing is, it doesn’t feel like work.  It’s fun and I’m really enjoying myself!  Please.  Go check out my Etsy site and my Facebook fanpage.  If you need something for your little angel, contact me, we’ll figure something out!

Here are my (ancient) pieces…a couple of which I can’t even remember the proper names of!

This is the larger of one of their hurricanes (the candle is not SLAH).  I’ve done all sorts of stuff with this hurricane.  The cutest was filling it about halfway with Easter colored candies and then nestling putting a cup in it with water for flowers into the candies and then putting spring colored blossoms into the water cup.  Then you can tie a cute bow around the narrow part of the base. You can’t see the water cup, the candies cover it up and it makes for a very festive centerpiece.  You can do this with any holiday that M&Ms makes themed candies for!  You can also put coffee beans and nestle a candle down into it.  Light the candle and the warmth of the candle heats the beans and you smell the coffee beans.  Great for a brunch.

This is my six year old wedding bouquet that has survived approximately 6 moves (knock on wood) resting in one of SLAH’s retired bubbled glass vases.  I love this vase for my bouquet because the base is the perfect size for the end of the bouquet and there’s little chance of it tipping.  I actually have a number of SLAH’s vases in various sizes and shapes that I use when I get flowers…I just don’t get flowers that often.  I may have to start getting myself flowers! 

Frequent visitors to this blog have seen this Jamestown Tray fairly often.  I use it on my entry table to create seasonal vignettes.  I love it for its versatility and classic good looks.  It looks just as good serving food as it does hanging on the wall.  It looks good at Christmas with greenery on it, in Autumn with raffia on it and in Springtime with Easter eggs on it.

I use the large and small Rosedale Planters around my sink to hold kitchen essentials.  Here in the large one I have a bottle of Method soap, a bottle of Williams-Sonoma lotion and a dish scrubber.  I actually got the idea from my friend, Mary Anna, who sold SLAH for a long, long time and uses her Rosedale Planters for the same things in her house.

The small Rosedale Planter, shown here with a crocheted scrubbie I bought on etsy.com. I think this is just a prettier, more organized way to keep things nice around the sink. Don’t you think?

Another idea that I got from Mary Anna…although she uses the Tidbits. These are the Jamestown Votives (I think that’s what they’re called). I put them in my kitchen window above my sink where they look great all by themselves, but, when I have to wash dishes, I put my jewelry in them. Pretty and functional!

Moving on around the kitchen, this is the Red Mountain Iron Cookbook Holder.  If I used it the way it’s designed, it’s too tippy with my blessings tile in it.  So I turned it upside down and it works perfectly.

This is the Acanthus Centerpiece which I’m using in the corner of my kitchen right now to hold my moving detrius. When you move with the military there’s a good bit of paperwork and you have to keep track of what’s broken and such. This is the perfect size for papers. When we’re done with all that, it’ll get a much more attractive use.

This is a really old piece that retired right as I started selling so I don’t know what it was called. It’s the wine basket. I really like it. I holds whatever bottle of wine we happen to be drinking at the moment.

Finally, this is the Two-Tiered Plate Stand. I use it on our kitchen table to hold plates of food while we’re eating. I’ve used it for parties to hold hors d’ouvres and finger sandwiches. It decorates beautifully.

Although it’s hard to see here, I have my cotton boll arrangement sitting on top of my Barley Twist Pedestal that I got back in August.

Aidan & Grandmommy LOVE baking & decorating cookies together.  Aidan said these were for Santa.  I guess she thought Santa had a BIG appetite!

Dressed up for Christmas Eve Services.  Aidan received this Santa Claus sweater from our friends, The Hasty Family, when she was almost 2.  Both of their girls wore the sweater for several Christmases and they wanted to hand it down to Aidan.  This Christmas she was finally big enough to wear it.

Aidan loving on her Daddy.  Note: Ryan is no longer wearing glasses.  The Army gave him an early Christmas present of PRK.  Thank you American taxpayers! 

After church, we came home to unwrap gifts.  We do gifts to one another on Christmas Eve, unwrapping them one at a time, taking turns from youngest to oldest.  Then on Christmas Day we do Santa Claus for the kids.  My family has done it this way for YEARS and when I go elsewhere and there’s a free for all opening gifts I want to crawl into the fetal position to prevent going into convulsions.  Tradition Nazi?  Who Me?  Yup!  Guilty!

What is this?  She actually thought there was a tiny bicycle in the end of the packaging.  Silly goose!

Helping Daddy unwrap the mug she colored with Grandmommy to give him. (Mama got one too. It’s in my sewing room and holds pens and scissors and stuff.)

Checking the chimney to see if Santa will fit. This is a much cuter picture of Aidan doing this than my mom has of my brother and me doing the same thing. I had a tendency to pull my panties up. High. So, there’s about 8 feet of underwear sticking up over my pants. Very attractive. If I could find it I’d scan it so you can see it.  But luckily for me I can’t so you’ll just have to take my word for it.  I pulled those little girl granny panties up to my armpits.  What a look.

Christmas Morning: “Yep, he ate all those cookies!” (We only left Santa 3, not all of the ones on the trays like she wanted.)

“I got the Princess Tiana Dress! I told you I got the Princess Tiana Dress!”  She’s worn that dress everyday since Christmas.  This kid seriously digs the dress up clothes!

Sitting in her new pink chair from Aunt Melynn, Uncle David & Kaelynn and trying on her goodies from her stocking.  (She has 2 stockings, 1 from my mom and 1 that I made.  The one in front of her is the one from my mom.)

Santa delivered her bike to Grandmommy & Papa’s a little early.  It had been “under” (beside) their tree for a while.  Her other “big” Santa gift was a trampoline.  It didn’t make the trip from San Antonio.  We had it set up in the backyard when she got home from Houston.

After Santa, we headed over to Ryan’s aunt & uncle’s house.  They’re also Aidan’s Godparents.  Their younger daughter, Paige (who is a freshman at Ole Miss), is crazy about Aidan.  Here they are having a tea party before the festivities/craziness begins.

Aidan’s Godparents’ son, Brad, is Ryan’s Godson.  This is Ryan & Brad playing Guitar Hero.  Brad, a freshman in high school, was in 1st grade when Ryan and I started dating.  He makes me feel old.

Finally, everyone arrived, the food was eaten and the melee ensued.  Paper flew like it was snowing.  Aidan got quite a haul!  They all know her well, it was all princess or dress-up related (or both!)

We had a great Christmas and are finally back and resettled into our regular lives.  I have a new job now.  I start it next week and I’ll let y’all in on it when I’ve done it for a bit and can tell you a bit more about it.

- Favorite Quilting Weight Cotton Collection - A tie between Moda and Michael Miller, I probably have equal amounts in my stash
- Favorite Under the Radar/Sleeper Collection – “Hushabye” by Tula Pink and “Rouenneries” by French General
- Favorite Trend (Motifs) – Damask, Border Prints
- Favorite Trend (Colors) – Bright, saturated colors (Patty Young’s fabrics got me into it.)
- Favorite Overall Designer – Amy Butler (she’s the one who started the whole regenesis, isn’t she? Made sewing hip again?) 
- Favorite New Designer – Jay McCarroll (is he still new?)
- Favorite Floral Print – “Flora & Fauna” by Patty Ypung
- Favorite Geometric Print – “Mezzanine” by Patty Young
- Favorite Solid/Nonprinted – FreeSpirit Designer Solids
- Favorite Fabric Shop – Locally: Las Colchas (http://www.lascolchas.com) Online: (http://www.fatquartershop.com)
- Favorite New Fabric You Worked With in 2009 - Not a new fabric, just a new line, Pillow & Maxfield 
- Wildcard Category – “Meadowsweet” by Sandi Henderson

In no particular order:

Ryan: We met online almost 9 years ago (it will be 9 years on February 8), got engaged in March 2003 and married on November 15, 2003.  He’s the friend of my soul, the best father I’ve ever seen and although we’ve spent a lot of time apart because of the Army, I believe we’ve grown closer because of the absences.

. . . .

Aidan:  My mini-me, my princess, my genius, my wild woman.  How is it she’s only been in my life four and a half years and already she takes up so much space?  She and her daddy are my life.

. . . .

Books:  I learned to read at age 3 (thanks Mom and Sesame Street) and have been an avid reader/bibliophile ever since.   If I’m bored, I don’t do well if I don’t have something to read.  I crave books like food and consume them, devour them, when I find great ones.  My baby has just learned to read.  Her daddy, her grandmommy, her schools and I have been working with her and she’s just recently started sounding out words and I love seeing how it has opened up a whole new world for her.

. . . .

Technology (My computer, iPhone, GPS):  I teach it, I use it, I was raised around it.  What can I say? I love it!  In all honesty, I am what we educational technology people call a “technology native.”  My class got its first computer in 2nd grade.  Our elementary school got a Mainframe WICAT Lab in 3rd grade where I learned typing.  We got a home computer, an ”IBM Clone”, when I was in 4th grade.  I started typing my papers to hand in, in 5th grade, using Wordstar.  Lets just say it was love at first “tap”. 

. . . .

My family:  I’m crazy about my family.  My brother and I were very close growing up.  My mom is one of my dearest friends.  My mother’s family means the world to me and I try to spend as much time with them as possible.

. . . .

Sweet tea:  When I left Texas for Georgia I was a Dr Pepper fiend.  Three years later, I came home completely addicted to Southern-style sweet tea.  It’s all I drink.  The sweeter the better.  Actually, there’s a reason for this.  I’ve had pretty bad migraines for most of my life.  While we were at Ft. Benning, my doctor put me on Topamax to help prevent them.  The Topamax greatly affected the way carbonated beverages taste to me.  So, I switched from Dr Pepper to sweet tea.  (I’m a purist, though.  No lemon and certainly no frou-frou mint!)

. . . .

Air conditioning:  I live in Texas and CANNOT survive without it.  Literally.

. . . .

Having a purpose in life:  Newton’s First Law of Motion states “An object at rest will remain at rest until acted upon by an outside force.  Conversely, an object in motion will remain in motion until acted upon by an outside force.”  This law is typically known as the “Law of Inertia.”  I am that object that Newton is speaking of.  If I don’t have a purpose, that “outside force” acting on me, I have a tendency to just stay at rest.  I am highly susceptible to inertia.  If you give me a job, a goal, a purpose, have an “outside force” act upon me, I will work from sun up to sun down.  I just need a purpose.

. . . .

Friends:  When I graduated from high school, I left my hometown and never looked back.  Prior to Facebook, there were very few people from there that I ever spoke to.  When I got to college, I lived on campus and got involved in the Residence Hall Association.  There I met the best friends you could ever hope to have.  We’ve traveled all over the country to attend and be in one another’s weddings.  We get together whenever we can.  We write, we talk on the phone, we text and exchange gifts.  My three best friends are gifts from God and I am so grateful for them.

. . . .

Tradition:  I love tradition.  Tradition in cultures, traditions at colleges & universities, traditions within families.  I thrive on it.  Maybe it’s because there’s so much change in my life elsewhere, I cling to the consistency of tradition.

I don’t really get obsessed about many things but once I got to thinking about it, I realized there was one thing I am particularly obsessive about…my keepsake ornaments.  Being a history major/teacher, I’m weird about things being in chronological order and not having gaps in my timelines.

Since I went with a theme tree this year, I bought an ornament tree to put all of my beloved keepsake ornaments on display.  The ornament tree sits on the dividing wall between the living room and dining room so it’s visible from pretty much anywhere downstairs.

These two ornaments are some of my first keepsakes that I bought myself in 1995 when I was a freshman in college, at Texas A&M.  The angel has a poem on it about blessing me during finals and then taking her home and putting her on my tree.  She’s gone on every family tree since 1995.  Luckily, since Ryan and I are both Class of ’99 at A&M, the “First Aggie Christmas” ornament works for both of us.

I didn’t really start my collection in earnest until 2003, when Ryan and I got married.  The ornament on the left is from Ryan’s grandmother who always gives me an ornament every year, with a photo of us taken during our first dance as husband and wife.  The ornament on the right celebrates our First Christmas Together in 2003.

In 2004, we found out we were going to be parents, so I had to have this ornament from Hallmark, commemorating the event.  I remember that Christmas because Aidan, not even born yet, got more presents than anyone!

2005, of course, brought Miss Thing herself, so I have 2 ornaments for that.  The ornament on the right is “Baby’s First Christmas 2005″ that I bought.  It opens up and has space for small keepsakes.  The ornament on the left is one that Ryan’s grandmother (Aidan’s great-grandmother) gave me.  It says “A child’s first sense of home is found in a Mother’s loving arms” and it opens to a photo of me holding Aidan when she was 7 weeks old at her baptism.

Ryan joined the Army and we moved to Ft. Benning, Georgia in 2006.  This is an example of me not liking to have holes in my timeline.  I didn’t have an ornament for 2006 for a couple of years.  This irked me to no end.  Finally, in 2008, I found this cute little house that looks like some of the housing at Benning.  This ornament took its place in the timeline in the 2006 slot.

“Christmas in the Desert: 2007″  In 2007 Ryan spent his Christmas in Iraq and we missed him like crazy.  It was one of the hardest days of my life (next to celebrating Aidan’s first birthday without him…he was at Army Basic Training).  Luckily I had the love of our families to keep us company and to keep my mind off things.

In 2008 I lost the greatest man I’ve ever known, my beloved Granddaddy.  When I found this ornament at Hallmark I knew I had to get it to honor him and fill the slot for 2008.  The back says”The true testament of a life well-lived is the love we leave behind.”  Behind it on the same branch is also an ornament that honors Ryan’s grandfather whom we lost in early 2005.

The last annual ornament is the one for this year and our new house.  I still really want to find something that commemorates living in the Alamo City but we’ve got a few years!

Last but not least are these ornaments from our childhoods.  Ryan’s grandmother had small picture frame ornaments of all her grandchildren.  She gave Ryan and me the set of him and his three siblings.  My mom had brass ornaments with our names engraved on them for our family.  She gave me the set of me (the bell), her (the star) and my brother (the football player).  Mine says 1979 (maybe that was the year she got it? It’s not the year I was born.)

I love how our family’s history can be revealed through our ornaments.  Sure it’s nerdy of me but someday when my grandkids are at my house I can pull them out and show them each one and tell them the story of their Grandpa and Mama and me.

The Dining Room

This is the first room you see as you walk into the house.  The theme is “A Lone Star Christmas”.  On the front window, using Nester’s garland instructions, I created a Texas-themed garland.

It has a cotton boll garland woven into it and I wired Texas-themed ornaments into it.

The centerpiece on my table is an oil-rubbed bronze bucket with cotton bolls from a cotton patch next door to my grandparents’ house in West Texas.  I put a star-shaped branding iron on top.  The red stars are tealight holders hanging from the chandelier that I bought in Fredericksburg.

On the china cabinet is my Christmas tassel from The Tassel House on Etsy and cowboy tree from Rhinestone Angel in Flatonia.  That’s also where I got most of my Texas ornaments.

This is our Cowboy Santa Claus Christmas countdown calendar.  Aidan loves moving the horse closer and closer to Christmas.  I found this at the big quilt store (I can’t remember the name) on Main St. in Fredericksburg.  I knew it would be perfect in my Lone Star Christmas dining room.

The Entry Hall

Across from the dining room is the entry hall where my Santas live.

The taller Santa is made out of an antique ceiling tin.  I found it a year or two ago at Angel’s Antiques in Opelika, Alabama.  I have no idea where the fat Santa came from…I didn’t even remember I had it until I unpacked it.  Ever have any decorations like that?

The Dividing Wall

 When I decided to go with a theme tree I was faced with the conundrum of what to do with my keepsake ornaments we’ve been collecting over the years.  I found an ornament tree on the  Brylane Home website (which is no longer available) so I ordered it to display my keepsakes.

I have it on the dividing wall between the living room and dining room.

An ornament from Ryan’s grandmother for Aidan’s first Christmas.

I got this one from Hallmark for my late, precious, beloved Granddaddy who passed away in 2008.

This ornament is from our first Christmas at Fort Benning, 2006.

And this one is for the Christmas that Ryan was deployed, 2007.

Finally, this one is for this year and our new house.

The Playroom

Aidan loves pink and ballet, so it was only natural that I create a tree for her out of  the white tree that I was given when I organized the rummage sale at my old school in Georgia.  I found the cutest, most perfect ornaments for her at Hobby Lobby, from a line appropriately called “Sugar Plum.”  She loved seeing the ornaments, decorating her tree and especially showing it to her cousin and grandmother.

She decorated (and has since redecorated it repeatedly) so it’s a little bottom heavy.  She loves this tree so much!  She turns the lights on as soon as she gets up and looks at all her ornaments.  Too cute!

A few of my favorite ornaments on there.

Ryan and I made this sign to go up in the playroom.  I probably should’ve turned the lights on on her tree when I took this picture…oops!  I saw a sign like this on Etsy and thought, Ryan and I can make this.  I started painting it, I did the pink, all of the pencil lettering, the ribbon and “I’m dreaming of” and Ryan did the rest of the words and drilled the holes.  Quite a family effort huh?  I’m pretty proud of it.    Aidan loves it.

Hanging on Aidan’s door is this little pillow with a little pocket on it.  I’m thinking about replacing the red ribbon with a pink one so it goes with the upstairs theme.

 The Living Room

Finally, we get to the living room.

Let’s face it, I LOVE feathers.  I’d wrap myself in them if it were socially acceptable.    Sadly, most feather wreaths are pretty expensive.  When I found this beauty at Homestead Handcrafts I knew it would match my tree.  Then when I saw that it was $18!  Oh man, I grabbed that baby up in a heartbeat!  I hung it on my iron wall hanging and I love looking at it from my chair in the living room.

I made these stockings last year when we were at Ft. Benning.  This year, since we still don’t have a mantle (I will have one some day!),  I found a great wrought iron stocking holder online.  I love the shape of the holder and it sits under the iron wall hanging.  After Christmas I’ll probably figure out a way to continue using it.

Ryan and I got this porcelain Mikasa Holy Family figurine set as a wedding gift six years ago.  It is one of the only things that I have ALWAYS put out regardless of where we’ve celebrated the holiday, where we’ve lived or if Ryan has been home or at school or in Iraq.  Aidan loves looking at Baby Jesus and says He’s so cute.

Here’s our Christmas tree.  I love it so much and am so proud of how it turned out!  It’s a 7 ft. tall synthetic pre-lit tree that I got at Garden Ridge.  It’s tall and skinny and fits perfect in the space.  I got green and rich royal red ornaments to go on it.  To finish off the look I added red glitter branches.  I love how it looks!  Ryan and Aidan keep harping on me that it needs a star but I like the green sequined upshoot thingamajig thing.

I hope you enjoyed your tour of our home!  Merry Christmas y’all!

6 months old, Nutcracker Market, Houston

On the Left, 1.5 years old, the mall at Macon, Georgia

On the Right, 2.5 years old, the mall at Columbus, Georgia

3.5 years old, Fort Benning, Georgia, Preschool

If you have Santa Claus pictures of your babies just floating around, go get one of these!  Believe me, it’s worth it!

NOW, Mama’s in her own house, we’re only going to Houston for about a week and I’m going full tilt!  Here’s the game plan:

Dining Room:  Rustic “Lone Star Christmas” theme.  I have a bucket of cotton bolls that I picked from a cotton patch next to my grandparents’ house in West Texas and I’m putting together a garland that’s either going to go on the window or china cabinet (wherever it’s easier to get it to hang and stay).  The garland three strands and is prelit with clear lights.  I’ve wired in a garland with cotton bolls on it and Texas themed ornaments.  I have Texas themed stuff that’s always in there and then I also have this adorable little “Cowboy Christmas Tree” (as Aidan called it).  It’s a Christmas tree with a cowboy hat on, a rope as garland and chili peppers, horseshoes and other cowboy things as ornaments.  So cute!  I got it at this cute TINY little shop in Flatonia called Rhinestone Angel.

Playroom:  “I’m dreaming of a pink Christmas”  Yep, this room is all for Aidan!  I got a 3-4′ white Christmas tree from the rummage sale I organized at the school where I taught last year.  I found a gorgeous collection of pink princess and ballet themed ornaments (called “Sugar Plum Fairy” appropriately enough) at Hobby Lobby and bought a mess of them.  I found pink Christmas lights and ordered a pink and sequined tree skirt from Kohl’s.  I’d like to find some cheap pink boas and intertwine them with some white garland to go on the windows.

Living Room:  “A Glamorous Christmas”  Since Ryan and I got married, (six years ago last Sunday) we’ve had a “hand-me-down Christmas.”  What I mean by that is, very few of our Christmas decorations were our own, everything was given to us as hand-me-downs by his grandmother.  While they were nice and all, they just weren’t my style.  The old tree got tossed a few years ago after it spent too long outside (here’s a tip, don’t try to store a Christmas tree outside…bugs LOVE them!)  This year, my mom and I went to Garden Ridge and I got a new tree and all new ornaments.  I got a 7′ tall, thin pre-lit tree with lime green (not bright lime, more of a dirty lime) and rich red ornaments.  Lots of crystals, birds, feathers, glitter and a gorgeous green silk tree skirt.  I also have green and red ribbons to go down the tree.  My tree topper is a gorgeous angel with a green silk dress on.  Today at Homestead Handcrafts, I found a GORGEOUS green and red feather wreath for $18!  I swear I thought it was a misprint!  I snatched that sucker up in a heartbeat like I was robbing a bank!

Elsewhere:  Around the house I have a few other random Christmas things.  On the entry hall table I have my Santa Clauses.  I have 3-4 Santas so they’ll go there.  I got a red vintage Christmas table cloth for the kitchen table and a vintage Santa Claus cup towel for the oven.  On the Brylane Home website, I found this great wrought iron stocking stand (which of course is on sale now).  We don’t have a fireplace or mantle so I needed a place to put our stockings.  I also got an ornament tree because I collect an ornament or two every year that represent our year (and then Ryan’s grandmother usually gives us some as well).  Since I’m going with a theme on the tree I needed somewhere to put my ornament collection.

Ryan made me promise not to do any decorating until Thanksgiving is over so I’ve been working on getting it all out, organized, made and ready to go for next week!  My goal is to get it all done by December 14.  Why December 14, you may ask?  To be done in time for the Nesting Place Christmas Tour of Homes!  I can’t wait!!