1. Blog Redesign. If you come around here often, you’ll notice I have a new blog design up this week! Jacquelinne was my designer from Smitten Designs and she worked with me to create a logo, header, Facebook timeline background, business cards and just a new professional look and feel for my blog. Brian helped me brainstorm a name and at first I had Curly Crafty Carrie, but I wanted to include that I am a Mom, so finally we came up with Curly Crafty Mom. Curly represents me and my love for fashion, Crafty represents crafts/DIY/decor and Mom represents me as a Mom… as I do blog about my kids a lot still! I also love the tagline that goes with it, “When Curls and Crafts Collide…”
When I worked with Jacquelinne, I wanted to have an actual logo and not just a header. I also wanted to be able to display images on my blog at a larger size than 550px, since I love to display my recipes, DIY projects and fashion posts at a larger scale to show more detail. For the graphic elements, I wanted her to use teal & pink for my main colors and I wanted these colors to be subtle/soft. I also wanted her to use succulents (these are in the header), burlap, chevron, wasabi tape (my About Me photo is taped up with this!), etc. to show the crafty side of my blog.
I also wanted a navigational bar across the top with additional pages my users can click on. These are blank for now, but I plan to work on them a little at a time. I also wanted a side bar and I am also having her create a Blog Button for me with my blog logo. This was an extra request I gave her, and she just finished the blog button TODAY. Check it out on my side bar and feel free to add it to your blog! I would love to trade buttons with anyone that is interested.
I even found some surprises on my blog… like when you roll over the images, a Pin It button appears at the top of the image. I love that Jacq added this!
2. Recap on my Birthday/Embroidery Machine. I can’t believe my birthday was several weeks ago and I haven’t blogged about it yet… especially since Brian and the kids made me feel so special on it! It was a really laid back day, we went to lunch at Waffle House… I know, I know… Waffle House?! But, it was close to the movie theater and Nathan said he wanted to try it… and, I thought the boy is 7, it is time for him to try Waffle House! lol! Then we saw Planes and after that we had homemade cake from a blog recipe that I gave the hubby (dang, that is a lot of candles on that cake!)… and, then after the kids were in bed we had birthday cake martinis, from another blog that I forwarded to the hubby. At least he knows what I like, right?! And, as for gifts… I got a sewing and embroidery machine!! Whoooohooo! I have been wanting one of these forever and although I am not sure I remember how to sew, I will figure out the sewing and embroidery, don’tcha worry! I bought these scraps to play with at first, then I plan to work on embroidering headbands, scarves and maybe even one of my chambray shirts on the pocket. We’ll see where this takes me… I am a little nervous, though! Any tips would be appreciated if you know how to embroider!
3. Stitch Fix. So, I’ve decided to get on the Stitch Fix band wagon! I really need some new Fall clothes and I’ve been envying what they’ve been sending everyone in their boxes this month. I even saw someone that got a pair of emerald green skinnies, which I cannot find anywhere! If you don’t know what Stitch Fix is, you fill out a questionaire online and the ship you a box of five items every month. If you keep all five items (which, I am planning to buy 1 item a month) you get 20% off… if you buy 1 item, you don’t lose your $10 you paid for that month to receive the shipment. Then, you mail back the items you don’t want. You can specify your style, what season you are interested in (fall is what I want right now!) and the designers that work with you will send you exactly what you are looking for… I have seen others receive their boxes, try on the their clothes and do a blog post on them, this is what I plan to do when I receive my first box next month. What is nice is you can start or stop shipments at any time. Here are a couple of posts of some other bloggers that do Stitch Fix and what their current box included: Life in the Green House and Walking in Grace and Beauty.
4. School. Well, we are on our third week of school and it seems to be going really well this year. Last year we had so many activities going on and we weren’t used to homework, so it was a little chaotic. I did not want that this year… at all. So, instead of doing soccer, Nathan is doing cross country and the practices are right after school (before I even get off work!). Then, he may be participating in cubscouts again… and, Autumn will be doing dance at an earlier time (5-6 pm), which will get us back home in time to do dinner and baths still.
Homework has been easier this year as well, we started an allowance program with Nathan at $7.00 a week. We’ve read that $1 per year of age is a good start. For allowance he needs to finish his homework at Grandma’s house before I pick him up after work. He also needs to continue to get himself ready for school in the morning and we will start having him pack his own lunch, too! Then, every weekend we have him write out his spelling words 3 times, so we don’t need to do this during the week on Wednesday night. Also, this teacher lets the kids do their memory on Monday versus Friday if they are ready! We have Nathan learn his verse and he says it on Monday and it is one less thing we need to go over all week with him. Whew!
5. Labor Day/Upcoming Projects. This weekend is Labor Day weekend and the kids will be with their Dad… Brian and I really don’t have any plans, so I plan to relax and get some projects done around the house. We painted the Master Bathroom ages ago and I am itching to get in there to decorate it. I have everything planned on how I want it to look, but some of it involves DIY projects and I also need to purchase a lot of items still (one item I am hoping Pottery Barn still carries!). My goal is to get Brian in there to swap out the lighting with something a lot more modern. I also want to work on painting a chalkboard wall in the kitchen, BUT… I am not sure if I’ll get to that this weekend. We were planning on going to the Japanese Festival, but with temps in the upper 100’s, I’d rather stay in the a/c! lol! Hope you all have a nice Labor Day!
