mommy blog

  • Giveaway Day 4

    ByHeather Bailey

    Day04_GiveawayBanner

    We are onto Day 4. Hello Sunday. I'm posting a little bit late today.
    Perhaps that will increase your chance of winning? Sorry about that. I
    had church.

    HeatherBailey_WoolFelt_470

    Today's HELLO Giveaway prize is a DOZEN 9"x12" sheets of Heather Bailey designer wool-blend felt ($27 value). Winner picks the colors. Our wool-blend felt is far
    superior to polyester felt in appearance, texture, durability — and
    style. Great for hair accessories, pincushions, brooches, dolls and more. Several of our top sewing patterns
    use felt for embellishments, including Henrietta Turtle, Effie &
    Ollie Elephant, New Leaf Folding Totes, and Fresh Picked Pincushions to
    name a few.

    HeatherBailey_WoolFeltLabeled_470

    Comment to enter today's contest. Be sure to include your email address
    so we can contact you if you win. Today's giveaway closes at 11:59pm PST 8/4/13.
    Watch for the winner to be announced within a day or two at the bottom
    of the post. For more info on my August giveaway madness, click here.
    We have some seriously amazing prizes planned, including tools,
    equipment, jewelry, toys, Project Life, stationery, fabric from my next
    collection (which I'll introduce this month)—exciting stuff. Please
    share the word.

    If you're watching
    for updates, I'll post the winners from Day 1 through Day 3 this afternoon.

    Good luck, everyone. Thank you again for your love and support.

    xo—Heather


    Read More “Giveaway Day 4”

  • Sixteen?

    ByHeather Bailey

    I was that girl who carried a doll baby with her everywhere she went.
    And not by the hair or the hem of her skirt, but gently, sweetly wrapped
    in a blanket, safe and warm.

    1997_BaileyFamily

    One of the earliest photos of me, as a
    toddler, shows me clutching my Raggedy Ann doll. My eyes are teared up
    and I'm miserable because my mom tried to take Raggedy away for the
    photo. She finally relented and gave her back. The teary-eyed portrait
    is the best image they got that day, capturing much more than my child's
    face, but a glimpse of my spirit as well.

    These are the same heart-strings that are being plucked today. My
    first real baby, my son Elijah turned 16 yesterday. He's 6'3" and
    growing. Tall and slender, with a deep voice and sprouting stubble, he
    is hardly recognizeable in form from the soft, cheeky baby you see here.
    But, like me, he is the same person underneath. Just like he was as a baby, he is kind-hearted, cuddly,
    intelligent beyond belief, and so, so good to his mom.

    1997_Elijah

    In those early years, Elijah was my daily companion and at times my
    only friend. The silver lining to a very hard period of my life is the
    closeness we developed as mother and son. I have such a mushy, saggy
    soft spot for him in the middle of my chest. It gets deeper and
    squooshier as the years pass. And it hurts sometimes. How is it that my
    little angel-faced baby is now housed in the framework of a man? It's a
    puzzle that has confounded mothers for centuries. I'm not the first.

    Elijah_16_SilhThe
    hope is that I'll know Elijah much longer as a man than I knew him as a
    boy. With this math on my side, perhaps the puzzle will resolve itself.
    Or maybe this is why we have memory loss in our old age—to ease the
    pains of distant memories.

    Today, my heart hurts. I know things are no different from yesterday.
    And I have nothing but gratitude for this forward-rolling life we've
    been given. I hang my heart on Elijah's daily hugs, his love for family
    activities, his lack of embarrassment over his old mom, and his wish to
    live near us as an adult. Unlike so many teenagers, he's in no hurry to
    leave us behind. This gives me clearance to teach him to fly, as I know
    he'll return safely and willingly—if more infrequently as the years
    pass. My eyes might be a bit redder for the experience, but success as a
    mom is a happy, healthy, functional child—who also still likes you
    somehow in the end.

    He is a good, good kid. I am grateful to be his mom.

  • When I’m Sixty-Four

    ByHeather Bailey

    Look what Laura made for me.  This is such a great idea.  She took a
    silk purse from The Limited — found on sale at TJMaxx or Marshall's(?)
    and heatherized it with handmade silk flowers and vintage buttons. I
    love it!

    BloomingT
     
    There
    are two dupioni flowers, plus two little buds from a Kaffe Fasset
    print. The leaves are made from lace and a vintage kimono print.

    PurseonWhite On
    the home front, my 13-year-old is now nearly my height — about 1/2" to
    go. So bizarre. On our way to my parents' house yesterday, Elijah was
    telling me how awesome it is to have a mom so close to him in age. (I
    was 21 when we had him.)

    "When I'm 60, you'll be 81," he said.

    "And we can play shuffleboard together, " I replied.

    "We can have a walker race to the country club!" he concluded.

    An
    image that will stay with me for oh, at least 47 more years, if I'm
    fortunate enough to make it to that race. Now, of course, no
    60-year-olds I know have a walker, but at 13, anyone over 40 is a
    candidate for a walker, right?

    I love that kid.

    -o-o-o-o-o-

    (McCartney wrote When I'm Sixty-Four when he was only sixteen years old! Although it wasn't released till he was 25 or so.)

  • Couch-Plop, Flip-Flop, House-Mop, Non-Stop

    ByHeather Bailey

    CabinW This weekend, I relaxed at a cabin in Pinetop with six girlfriends and
    one agreeable little baby.  All
    we did was talk and eat sweets. My new quilt & I claimed the fat,
    fuzzy recliner. (Ugly never was so beautiful; I need a recliner now.) I
    also learned that I'm not the only one who isn't too cool for
    flip-flops-with-socks (Renee, you're awesome). It was
    wonderfully-freezing outside. 

    It's been a busy few weeks. I've been immersed in many great
    projects, and have been dealing with a few difficult things too —
    hence the blogging slow-down.

    After leaping from event to event
    this Fall, I am thrilled to stay in one place for a while. Carpools,
    family dinners, piano lessons, I'm loving them all.

    YarnFlowerCropT On the work front, I'm designing my debut stationery collection with Inviting Company, prepping for the release of my next fabric collection, and motoring-along on new sewing patterns and finished goods.

    At home, I'm getting my house put back together, including happy,
    new petunias and roses out front, and I'm enjoying time with my kids.
    (I like them.) Charlotte and I are playing with her new Knifty-Knitter Flower-Loom. We're considering crochet next. Is four too young for crochet?

    Elijah
    and I seek every opportunity for a bike ride. Even Isaac can be seen
    riding my new, pink bike around — usually when it's dark outside, for
    obvious reasons — it's that fun to ride. It's time to get that man a
    blue cruiser already.

  • Did a Bat, Bat Thing

    ByHeather Bailey

    TeLOGO

    Welcome
    to Trick-Or-Eat at HELLOmynameisHeather.com. Today, nine favorite food,
    craft & lifestyle bloggers await behind nine haunted houses — with
    an array of holiday tricks and treats to greet you. At the end of this
    post, you will find two mystery houses. Join in the fun by clicking on
    one of the next homes on the block. Discover all of the Trick-Or-Eat
    contributors and find direct links to their posts at
    www.Trick-Or-Eat.com.

    BatBorder

    GhostlyGardenVelcome, my vriends, to the Ghostly Garden Cottage, where even the flowers can’t be trusted. Who says scary can’t be cute?

    To
    prove the point, meet Betty Boo. Some might say she’s a spoiled bat,
    but I think she’s rather sweet, as far as vampires go. Betty is
    not too cross to wear flowers — but she’s not too kind to sock-you-one
    either — so, stay on her good side.

    BettyBoo
    Come on inside — no tricks here, only treats. Don’t mind the carnivorous plants creeping out the windows.

    Today I’m handing out a NEW, FREE PATTERN —
    fun-to-make & easy-on-the-thighs. Click here to download my free
    pattern for a snappy little sock doll. Make your own mischief from one
    unassuming sock, wool-blend felt, and a few other bits & baubles from your crafting scraps.

    BettyBooDownload

    Don’t
    go batty picking materials. If you want some help, I’ve dug up all
    sorts of spooky socks and supplies for a handful of kits at The Heather Bailey Store (while supplies last).

    Win a free Betty Boo Sock Doll Kit. Four winners will be picked at random. (If you’re not a gambler, see the Freebie Code at bottom of post.) Leave a comment; make up a Halloween poem, share a Halloween story — or just say ‘Hi’. 

    Now, vahtch your step. And Happy Halloween!

    UpsideDownT

    BatBorder

    Whooo’s Next?  Head to the next house on the street — or run, run, run, with your candy-bag wide-open.
    See what the other Trick-Or-Eat hosts and ghostesses have cooked up for
    you today;  Click on one of the haunted dwellings below:

    Sophistimom

    TongueNCheeky

    BatBorder

    **Freebie Code** Happy Halloween! Treat yourself a FREE Betty Boo Sock Doll Kit, by entering the
    code “BatBatThing” (on a purchase of $35 or more) at The Heather Bailey Store.
    While supplies last — first come, first serve. (When you’re ready to
    check out, add your selected bat doll Kit to your cart, then enter the
    coupon code where indicated. The price of one kit ($9.95) will be
    removed from your total. Code expires 10-31-09.)

  • |

    Re-Entry

    ByHeather Bailey

    I'm back from Market and restoring sanity at home — and
    cleanliness. My kids kissed me awake yesterday like two little pecking
    chicks. It was a contest.

    Market photos are still on the road
    with Isaac, so I'll save the reporting till he rolls in later today.
    I'm excited to be home and thrilled that my long-awaited
    bicycle-weather has arrived in AZ at last. It's gorgeous out today.
    We're packing a picnic to the park, for sure.

    DooHicky

    Also, here are a couple of discount codes for you, to shake things up and keep it interesting at The Heather Bailey Store.

    • 20% off of all Trash Ties™ with code "TwitTies" (posted on twitter first)
    • 25% off of Freshcut™ fabric with code "FreshOut" (Freshcut is no longer in production, so get it while you can.)

    Discounts available through Monday, October 19th. Both codes can be used on the same order.

    It has been a wild few weeks — since Creative Escape,
    really. I'm ready to move forward, with lots of design work up next (my
    favorite!) — after filling these kids up with love and attention,
    picnics and parks, movies and popcorn, haircuts, and a few home-cooked
    meals.

    Now to resolve my hopelessly-clogged kitchen sink. Next
    time I'm tossing the old spaghetti in the trash and not down the
    garbage disposal.

  • A Worm Named Snowflake

    ByHeather Bailey

    FabricStack
    We
    just returned from the best campout with my two brothers and their
    families.  Isaac set up a kitchen to feed an army, complete with
    stovetop, grill, wash tubs, canopy & a tank of water for clean up. 
    Fortunately for the rest of us, he also set up a hammock with its own
    canopy, so we could leisurely ooo & ahh at him while he cooked all
    of our meals — almost.  Cooking is Isaac's favorite pastime on
    campouts.  I prefer laziness (fatigue-ziness really — I'm not the best
    tent-sleeper), so it works out well all around.

    Boots300 We cooked, we ate, we sat about and we fished.  Then we repeated.  I haven't done that much sitting about for years. 

    Best Fishing Tip: 
    If you're fishing to make memories for a pack of little kids, pick up a
    tub of live worms.  The worms will keep the younger kids engaged while
    the older kids have their turn at the poles.  By the time we left
    yesterday, all remaining worms were claimed & named.  Every child
    left happy as could be, fish or no fish.

    Nothing like a bit of
    grime & a hot tent to help you appreciate a warm shower & clean
    sheets.  Works every time.  Camping is great that way.

    Giveaway News:  Thank you to everyone who participated in my Store Giveaway Promotion from the June Newsletter. Congratulations to Jennifer Dessert
    for winning the stack of
    Freshcut fabrics & strawberry pincushion above. If you'd like to
    find out first about future giveaways, tutorials, products &
    company news, sign up for the Heather Bailey Newsletter here.

  • Bead It, Kid

    ByHeather Bailey

    Necklace1new3
    Beadingnew So, guess who made these necklaces?

    Four-year-old Charlotte did this all by herself.  I thought I was
    embracing disaster by allowing her free access to several bins of beads
    while I worked on the computer today.  I was entirely wrong.

    Not
    only did Miss C patiently string together all of these designs without
    my oversight, but she made them all symmetrical.  Even her most
    eclectic necklace doesn't miss a beat
    bead.  Hours and hours of necklace-making.  All I did was add the
    clasps.  And I bent a loop at the top of her one pendant.  That's it.

    Necklace3new2

    Necklace4new2
    When I was four years old, my bottom dresser drawer was stocked with
    white paper, a stapler and staples.  I made all sorts of wild
    inventions with white paper that year.  And here I thought I had been
    tricky-stuff at four, with my paper robots and elephants.  Looks like
    Charlotte has 4-year-old me mightily whooped.

    The moral: 
    Moms, Grandmas, Aunts and Alligators, let your kids have access to some
    of your precious supplies.  They may surprise you with tidiness and
    ingenuity!  I can only imagine what I would have done with real art
    supplies at that age.

    Of course, they may surprise you with a royal disaster instead.  I've been there too — many times.