made it monday

The Garaging Mavens booth in Wishes and Dreams is having an end-of-summer blowout sale where everything is an incredible 25% off! (That's a lot for handmade goods, especially ones that are already fair priced.) All that to say, we aren't putting as many new items in the shop this week, but we still have a few new goodies to share with you. These will be added to the booth next week, but are available for online purchase today!

These little coin purses are absolutely perfect for back-to-school! A great place to tuck lunch money, or extra quarters for pencils. You can bet that my daughter is going to have one of these tucked into her backpack. Tons of colors and patterns to choose from!

tiny heart coin purse {$5}

look at this sweet stitching detail! It's the little things that make it special.

Finally another set of a favorite material pairing in the shop. Love these classic burp cloths, they make a perfect baby gift.

bold and modern burp cloth set {$12}

Here is another new addition to the booth. Cute little cork boards sets with three matching fabric covered tacks. The perfect size for lockers or that odd little space on your wall you've been looking to fill. Keep an eye out for more color combos, or request your own. This set doesn't have magnets, but future sets will have magnets hidden behind the felt layer.

2 7in. fabric covered cork boards with 3 matching fabric covered button tacks. {$12}

It's all about the finishing details. Small ribbon loop makes these ready to hang where ever you please!

And just because I can't resist, here is a little sneak peek of the upcoming holiday season. Lots of fun fall and holiday themed items will be headed to the booth starting September 1st.

holiday hoops, coming soon!

And as always, remember we LOVE to do custom work! If you see something you like, but want a different color, please feel free to email us at thegaragingmavens@gmail.com or message us on facebook via our page.

Crafty Couponing

Many of us are familiar with couponing to lower our grocery bills but how many are familiar with couponing to lower your crafting bill?  We LOVE to craft, clearly, but what we love even more is to get a great deal!  I hate to pay full price for anything because I know I can usually find a better deal somewhere else.  So today I would love to give some tips and tricks we use to save on our crafting budget.

Know Your Stores
First, it's important to know your crafting stores.  Depending on where you live will depend on what stores are available to you.  If you are fortunate enough to live near at least 2 craft stores, than get to know them.  Don't be shy about walking around, knowing what product they carry, the prices, etc.  We are super fortunate that we have Hobby Lobby, Joanns, Hancocks and Michaels within a 30 mile radius of each other.  Each store may carry many similar items but they each have their unique products that they focus on.  If I am primarily looking for fabric I will head to Joanns, but if I need wood products my focus would be Hobby Lobby or Michaels for Scrapbooking.  And Hancocks would be for more specialty fabric.

Coupons
Next, make sure you are on their mailing list, if they have one.  Joanns will mail you their flyer every week which is usually loaded with at least 3 coupons.  They also run Coupon Commotion a few times  a year where their flyer is loaded with 2 full pages of coupons!!  Let's say you make it all the way to the store and you forget your coupons...not to worry!  Download their app and they will all be available at the touch of a finger.  Joanns and Michaels will not only accept their own coupons but those from other companies, like Hobby Lobby.  Last but not least, you can also have coupons texted to you, usually weekly or bi-monthly.  Sometimes you can even stack coupons.  Let's say you have 40% off one regular priced item coupon, everything else you are buying is already on sale AND you have a 15% off your total purchase coupon!  SHUT UP!  Most stores will not allow you to do that with sale or other coupons but Joanns and Michaels will let you do that.  Hobby Lobby will not honor other stores coupons but you can also find their coupon on online.

Pay Attention to Sales
Thanks to technology we can find out in an instant if what we are looking for is on sale.  Before taking that trek to the store look at the sale ad first.  Most of the time I plan my visits around what's on sale and when my coupons can be used.  If what I am looking for is not on sale this week, chances are it will be next week.  If my coupons will be better utilized next week, like I have a percent off of my total purchase, I will most likely wait and purchase my items the following week.

Internet
Last but not least, the internet can be your most valuable tool.  If you need to buy in bulk, search online for your item first before going out and buying 10 little bags of the item you need.  Make sure that your price will be cheaper than that of buying from the box stores.  Also, never hesitate to search for a coupon to that website before checking out.  Retailmenot.com is a great resource for looking for any coupon to any online store.

Remember, NEVER pay full price unless you absolutely have to!  There's nothing better than seeing that you saved way more than you spent.
Happy shopping!
~Shellie

The Fall is Coming!

Since we are new at this type of business we failed to remember that when the seasons change, we must be ready for them! We have been reminded that we need to begin putting in fall and winter decor into our shop. It took my brain a few days to wrap my head around this concept.  My littles haven't even started school, but I've already begun preparing for Halloween!  Ahhh!

This got me thinking,  how prepared am I? For the fall, winter? For the zombie wars? For whatever comes my way? I admit I am not as prepared as I should be, for any of it (unless there's a 24 hour craft-a-thon, then I'm pretty sure I have enough supplies for that).  But lucky for us we can always start now.

A few of us here at GM have begun using an amazing new budgeting tool called youneedabudget.com.  I heard of it last year and decided to give it a try. We were chronic checkers of the online bank account but we never remembered that this bill would come out or that we had written this check. YNAB has solved most of those problems.  And the great thing about it is that you can have it on your phone too!  I only update my budget/register once a week(mainly 'cause I'm lazy) but you can do what works best for you and your family.  I think the best thing it has done, for our family, is to show us where our money goes, maybe where it shouldn't go, and where it can go. This in turn allows us to be prepared for those moments that sneak up on us.

Anytime I can save money, I'm all over it! When my grandma came home with a ton of shopping bags saying "there was a sale!" My grandpa would reply "oh great, we're saving money to go into debt." Very wise words.  This taught me that we should only spend money when we have it. But what about when we need to buy something,  like food or clothes. Do we always shop around or do we do what's convenient.  In working on my budget I've seen a trend that helped us cut back on our grocery bill. How many of us forgot that we needed a gallon of milk and sent our spouse to get it? This has happened to us many a time but what I didn't realize was that those late night runs were costing us hundreds of dollars because of the extras we inevitably bring home.  This got me thinking, again, on where we spend money when it's not needed.  I quickly found that culprit too! It's those dang big box stores like Target or Walmart!  Now, I love me some Target! But why do I need to buy 3 new beach towels, an outfit, a pillow, and a new lamp when I came in for 5 grocery items! I know that yall know what I'm talking about! So for this reason,  I avoid it like the plague! It's hard but shopping at my local grocery store, Aldi, or even the Walmart Market has saved us a ton of money. I try and limit my big box store runs to once a month and then I watch my budget as I head to the checkout.

Ok so moving on, let's talk food. How much do you have in excess? Do you have enough food for a week, a month, a year? Whether or not you're a believer in food storage,  I believe that everyone should have about a months supply of groceries on hand. Whether or not the apocalypse happens, we all know that getting sick, injured, lazy, busy, etc. happens. This is why having extra on hand is great for those times we didn't make it to the store. We will then spend less money eating out and more on saving for a new car,  vacation,  house, etc.  However,  if you are into food storage,  I recommend Shelf Reliance. They work with your budget and ship it to you. You don't even have to remember to buy it! I love it! Find a local rep in your area to learn more.

I hope you've enjoyed this weekly installment of deep thought.  I hope this has helped give you ideas on how you can better be prepared for your path ahead. And if you have a great idea that has worked well for you, please share it with us!  We would love to hear from you!

To prepared success!
~Shellie

Embroidery Hoop DIY(ish)

Maybe you noticed, but we love our embroidery hoops around these parts! They are an inexpensive item, that can be used in a multitude of ways. I am always looking for new ways to use a hoop to create a custom piece of art for my home.

Today I am going to do a little DIY (and I use that term VERY loosely) to make a simple stitched embroidery hoop. You need minimal materials which makes for a cheap project! The thing you need most is time and patience.

To start you will need:

1. embroidery hoop, any size
2. embroidery floss, color of your choice, if you don't have any invest in black or a charcoal gray, very multi use.
3. scraps of fabric to embellish
4. needle

Let's begin (please keep in mind this is my first attempt at a DIY, I am kind of an off-the-cuff crafter who just makes things as I go along. Because of this I kinda forgot a few pictures. Let's pretend the pictures I do have are amazing, and the ones I forgot you don't need!)

The very first thing I did was create my picture using word (or some such program) and print it out. I forgot to get a picture of my "template" but you can see it here taped underneath my material. Once you have your picture created and all set,  you will be tracing the words you want to embroider onto your main fabric. This becomes a guide for your stitches. I love to use muslin as a background fabric because it's see through! I can trace my words very easily.

Make sure to tape the pattern and the fabric so it doesn't shift when you copy the words!

 I use a heavy duty heat and bond to adhere my pictures since it's just going on the wall and doesn't need to be stitched down. The possibilities are endless here!

Here are my words traced in pencil and I added my embellishments.

 Here is where you imagine a picture of a half stitched picture! I do a simple embroidery back stitch to make my words. Just up and down in neat stitches along your pattern. There are many tutorials online, so I won't bore you with those details here.

Now for some finishing touches, I used to leave the hoops naked, but a crafty lady I adore wrapped her hoops in fabric and I've been doing it ever since. I think it adds a special touch, and makes the final piece look that much more complete. Just tear or cut strips of fabric hot glue one end under the beginning clasp of the outer hoop and wrap. It's that simple! I don't hot glue the whole thing, just the beginning and end of each piece. Saves time, and your fingers.

just keep wrapping!

I tore these strips because I wanted the shabby look of the frayed edges for this one. You could just as well cut them and you have a nice and neat fabric layer on your frame.

 Here's the back! When you are done with your picture, and the frame is wrapped it's time to get it in there nice and snug. Tighten the hoop as much as you can, gently pulling the fabric taught. Trim the excess material, leaving just enough to fold over and glue down. Using a small bead of hot glue fold over the excess material and glue it to the inside hoop. This will keep your picture in place.

 

I love to hide all my mistakes with a nice circle of felt.Cut a square bigger than your hoop. Put a small line of glue on one section of your hoop, and lay it on the felt. Working slowly and carefully finish gluing down the felt. When the glue has dried trim off the excess, trying to be sure that no felt shows in the front. 

I like to add my label too. :)

 And voila! A sweet finished product made just the way you want!

 If this is super confusing, or I missed a major step please comment with any questions! I am happy to help. I hope you will try your hand at making a special hoop, these make great gifts, and I think they look pretty sweet hanging up in almost any room of the house!

made it monday

A few old favorites, and something new and exciting are headed to the shop. I hope you enjoy these pretties as much as I do! 

Adorable mustard and purple burp cloth set {$12}

Double flannel extra large swaddle/snuggle blanket. {$25}

Double flannel extra large swaddle/snuggle blanket. {$25}

 I saved the best for last! Check out these amazing garlands! Perfect for any party, little girls room, wrapped on a Christmas tree, the possibilities are endless. Currently in three color combinations (mustard/hotpink, teal, and teal/hotpink), but keep an eye out for more choices, or contact us via Facebook or email, we would love to make a custom garland for you!

Adorable pom pom garlands! approximately 9ft, and positively jam packed with poms!

so cute!

Managing Your Mommy Time

For the last 7 years I have had the wonderful opportunity to work from home.  Within those 7 years we began having children and have added 3 beautiful girls to our family and we are excited to be expecting our first boy in January!!  Children bring great joy but having to balance work and family has been a great and wonderful learning experience.  I would love to share with you what I have learned and hope that it can help you better balance your time between what matters most and what needs to be done.

1 - Balance Your Time Budget
Just like in your finances you balance your checkbook, you keep a budget, you save money for the future, etc. you must also do this with your time.  As we add on more and more to our, sometimes already overflowing, plates we must look at where we are spending our time.  If you knew that you were spending $100 per month on something that you didn't really need nor did you use it, would you keep spending that money?  Probably not.  When we look at how we spend our time we usually just say we don't have enough of it, when in reality it's just not being used properly.  I probably sound like I budget every minute of every day, but that just isn't possible and that would be too annoying for my carefree attitude.  Instead, I make a list of what needs to be done that day, and what I have going on the rest of the week and sometimes the rest of the month.  I can then gauge what I absolutely need to do that day and what can wait until the next day.  For example, if I know my weekend is pretty open and that nothing is too pressing than I will know that I can have an extra couple of hours of time to do with as I choose.  However, if I know that my weekend is packed, that every night I have something going on, it usually means that I get one hour of fun time (while I am eating my lunch) and then I must multitask the rest of the few hours I will have, while my kids are in "quiet time."  This usually means that I will have to fold laundry, work on a project for the shop, or clean while I am watching my shows (which I LOVE tv, especially any and all Real Housewives!).

2 - Finding Time Wasters
Now we must look into what is wasting our time.  I hate to say it but social media plays a big role in this.  I LOVE social media!  One could spend all day on Facebook or that evil but oh so wonderful pinterest but if we don't have the time, we just can't!!  If you are unsure of where your time wasters are keep a log of what you do with your time for a week.  I can guarantee you that you will be able to see pretty quickly where you can find just a little bit more time.  Another place I find time is putting my phone away.  I love my phone so very much!  It's almost like my 5th child but when I am on a deadline and have to get something done OR I just want to spend some quality time with my family, the phone must be put away.

3 - Multitasking
Dave Crenshaw has an amazing book out called The Myth of Multitasking.  It truly narrows down what great multitasking is and what it isn't.  For me, I do a lot of background multitasking (which I think most women are great at) which means I can get 10 loads of laundry done, make a crockpot meal, water the lawn with the sprinkler, listen to a training call, etc. all in one day!  All things that I can have going on while I am doing something else is background multitasking.  Sometimes one might forget to put in the first load of laundry until 5pm...oopsies.  But that's when I started making my list of 'to dos' around what I need to do first, then what you do after all of that.  Another great way to multitask is to always have an "on the go" project.  For those of you who craft, blog, are in school, there are so many things that you can bring with you to your child's ballet or soccer practices.  I always have a bag of things that I can take with me to get done.  There's no better time waster than sitting for 2 hours watching your sweet little girl practice the same ballet move over and over.  Bring something with you...always!
 I know I just told you to cut out on your social media but there are great ways to add it back in.  Adding to the multitasking is a multitasker DON'T!  As I mentioned earlier, your phone is a great resource but trying to read your fb while playing with your kids or talking to your husband/friend is NOT great multitasking.  Try not to do it.  :)  Which brings me to:

4 - Finding Balance
I don't think you will ever find true balance, but you can come pretty close.  For example, in my art of multitasking I limit my pinterest time to only when I am using the bathroom.  This may sound completely and utterly disgusting but we all know that we all do this (and I do wash my hands and phone each time)! Sometimes bathroom time is our only escape from our children (unless you were me last week when I had to read a book to my very insistent 2 year old).  But not only was I able to use my 15 minutes wisely but I also limited myself to only 15 minutes of pinterest time.   This can work in all aspects of your life.  Buy yourself a timer and give yourself 20 minutes or 1 hour of whatever time it is that you want.  I have recently joined the genealogy band wagon but I don't have a ton of time in my week to fit it in.  So I decided that I could take 1 hour out of my Sunday nap (it's been rough) to work on my genealogy.  I also have a goal to read a book by the end of the year.  This probably disgusts most of you but that was one of the things that I was wasting a lot of time on before that I had cut out.  So I am dedicating 1 hour a week to reading.  It's giving up one tv show a week or one nap or one hour of chatting to a friend.   Look to see what you want to add into your life.  For some it's trying to work from home but feeling guilty that you aren't spending time with your kiddos.  Set a timer that you will work 1 hour in the morning and 1 hour in the afternoon.  Show your children that it's important to work hard but that work isn't everything.

I hope that I was able to help show you, in someway, how you can find time in your week to do all that you need to accomplish.  Sometimes it will be super hard and you will want to pull your hair out, but remember NO is a good word to use sometimes, don't compare yourself to others and what you think they do, and remember what's most important to you.  Life is great and we should enjoy it!  Have fun and conquer your week!
~ Shellie

It's Pom Pom Time!

So for some reason I have a TON of yarn! Call me a craft hoarder or crazy but nonetheless I still have a ton of yarn.  I think it stems from the idea "it's on sale, so buy ALL of it!"  Anywho, just in case you missed it the first time, I have a lot of yarn.  So what should one do with all of this yarn?  Most would crochet or knit with it but that's WAY too simple(said with as much sarcasm as you can muster).  Plus, my crocheting level is still at a 1 and therefore should never be seen by anyone but me.  In pondering all of this, I decided to make some pom pom balls!  It's completely the perfect craft to take with you on the go!  These garlands have taken me about 2 months to finish.  This is due in large part because I hate not having something to do when I go somewhere, knowing that I will be sitting there for a long time and have nothing to do.  So I would leave this project to the side knowing that I would need it for those very instances.  AND the other reason is due to my arthritic hands.  Being 28 and having arthritis can be rather irritating (thanks grandma for passing that on!), but I just take long breaks in between using scissors for long periods of time.

Here's a sneak peek!  Aren't they so cute!  It reminds me of Truffula Trees from the Lorax!  How can they not make you smile!

I just love how they turned out!  I made them approximately 9 feet long so you can really get some use out of them! Using striped bakers twine was the perfect element to tie the different colors together.  Creating is so much fun, especially when you get to see the finished product.  More pics will be added on our Made it Monday post.  Keep your eye out!
~Shellie