{made it monday}

Restocking the shop with a few old favorites in new patterns this week. All of these diaper cozies have a coordinating burp set available, which makes a wonderful baby shower gift. Useful, mama-made, and super cute!

Chevron and floral diaper cozy, $10 (my favorite!)

Whale and polka dot diaper cozy, $10

Pink floral and sweet owl diaper cozy, $10

fun blue sock monkey diaper cozy, $10

pretty floral and teal diaper cozy, $10

pretty floral and teal burp cloth set, $12

bold chevron and floral diaper cozy, $10

Royal blue chevron and floral burp cloth set, $12

hanging towels with snap closure, $5 each.

my Nemesis!!

nem·e·sis

 

noun

noun: nemesis; plural noun: nemeses

1. 1.

   the inescapable agent of someone's or something's downfall

 

 

Have you ever had a project that you felt was out to get you? Well I have!!!

 

How did you combat the "underwhelming" feelings that you had toward it? Did you give up and walk away? Or did you keep coming back and finally complete it, and have that satisfaction that you did it?  For me, I keep coming back to a certain project, but never really fully completing it!

 

This is what's known as a wristlet bag. 

 

Super cute, right? They are perfect for someone to carry their stuff in and fits right on your wrist (hence the name wristlet)!  But............for some reason, these are trying to be the death of me! 

 

Sometimes you just need a little motivation to get something completed and mine is knowing that they will finally be done and in the shop! :)

 

Here is a sneak peek of all the other colors in the wristlet line, soon to be in the Wishes and Dreams shop.

 

 

 

till next time.........Penny :)

 

 



 

made it monday

Lots of fun items headed to our shop this week. Some weeks we get in the groove and can really crank out fun items, some weeks are more slow. You will see this week we were able to make a bunch of fun new holiday and seasonal items, as well as restocking some old favorites!

Adorable Halloween themed hoops! 4" skull hoops {$8}, 3" spider hoop {$6}

Autumn hoops! 8.5" Give thanks {$15}, 6.5" autumn wreath {$10}

Sweet Christmas hoops, 4' ornament hoop {$8}, 12" Merry Christmas {$20}

12" Happy Halloween {$20}

4" hand embroidered, Oh, Dear! {$17}

snap closure, chenille backed, star bib {$8}

chevron and floral burp set {$12} LOVE this color combo!

Sweet silhouette extra large swaddle blankie. This one has a small stain from a crafting mishap with paint so it is discounted! {$22}

Stain is hardly noticeable unless you are looking for it! It doesn't detract from the cuteness of the blanket in the slightest, but you get a steal of a deal!

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.

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!

CUTE little things!

I love cute little things that you can put other things into, and so the moment I made one of these little heart coin purses, I knew I was hooked!

 

 

 

 





 

This is just a little sample, but a whole bunch of them are heading to the store next week! Perfect for little girls or ladies like me who just love cute little things!

 

 

till next time...........Penny

made it monday

This week it's all about the hoops! We love using embroidery hoops to make art. They are such a versatile medium, and make an instant frame that can be embellished in a multitude of ways! This time we've got a little something for everyone, in a range of shapes and sizes!


Giant 18x26" inspirational hoop. Mustard frame with navy and coral letters. $47




Petite 5x7" spunky word art. Bright multicolored fabric wrapped frame with hot pink chevron and shiny letters! $15



Large 12" hoop. Embellished with a butter yellow rosette and large hot pink rick rac. Comes with two mini clothespins to hang art or a photo of your choice! $30



Medium 10" hoop.Sweet butter yellow rosette and lace detailing and scrabble tile family embellishment. $20



The beauty is in the details! Each hoop is finished nicely with a coordinating ribbon to ensure your art doesn't fall apart!

Man, I am just in love with these hoops! Don't forget to stop by our booth inside Wishes and Dreams on Park Row and Bowen in Arlington if you're local. If you aren't, don't fret! We will ship almost anything, and only for the actual cost of shipping and supplies. Follow us on facebook to see more of what we have up for sale.

{made it monday}

So we are going to start a new little feature here on the blog! Every Monday I will share some of our new products we've made during the week, and also spotlight some old favorites! Having a shop that is ready to buy rather than made to order means that we are making things, and making things often! Some days I feel like I hardly come out of my crafting space, but that provides me other days where I can rest easy knowing I've worked hard! How do you find a balance between getting your craft on as much as you want/need and spending your other "free" time doing other unpleasant things like cleaning and stuff? I'd love ideas!

Here are some of my favorite products headed to the shop this week. Every Monday new merchandise goes to our booth at Wishes and Dreams in Arlington, TX, which means Tuesday is the day to shop shop shop! And don't forget, we will ship almost anything we make, and we love to do custom orders (which reminds me, we should showcase some of our custom stuff....putting it on the list!).

I am absolutely in love with the fabric pairings on these new burp cloth sets. Made with 100% cotton prefold cloth diapers, these are super absorbent, and durable. Bound to last through many machine wash and dry cycles! Only $12 a set, and most will have a matching diaper and wipes cozy next week!

These whales are so sweet, and I always love the lime and bright blue combo for boys or girls!

 Adorable sock monkeys. I can't even handle it. I wish I had this fabric when my littlest was still in need of burp cloths! As it is, I think my purse needs a diaper cozy with this fabric!

 Pretty little owls paired with a dainty floral. Love these!

 Some fun new hanging towels in a variety of colors. I hate using any other kind of towel now! Drives me insane when I constantly have a pile of towels at the base of my stove or towels randomly shoved into the stove handle (you know what I'm talking about!) from multiple child uses. These eliminate that problem! Only $5 per towel, and they have a snap closure for durability.

 And last, but not least, these bright ruffled accent pillows. Each pillow measures approximately 12 x 16 and is perfect for a bed, couch, or chair! The flat ruffle means it will never fray or lose it's shape, and the case is made in the envelope style for easy removal. We love making things that will last, and the ability to wash the cases to keep them clean is a major plus! $20 each.

Hope you enjoyed this little peek at some of our new products. We have almost all of our things for sale listed on our facebook page, we'd love for you to follow us there! www.facebook.com/thegaragingmavens

Until next week!

xoxo
Shannon

Zippers and I, Back Together Again

So zippers and I broke up for about a week.  It would have been longer but a sweet customer of ours wanted a custom order pencil case.  I begrudgingly said I would make it.  I didn't like the idea that we would have to make up.  They had been so mean to me. Mocking me at every turn, but we had a good long chat and decided to make it work.

For the pencil case I wanted to use laminate fabric, which has become my new obsession!  Who wants a bag lined with normal fabric that gets gross and dirty!   Never making a bag before I used this tutorial to get me started.  However, I somehow didn't follow the directions all that well and my bag turned out like this:

This wouldn't be so bad if it were supposed to be the size of a make up bag and the zipper was actually going the correct way.  Don't get me wrong, it's super cute but not what it needed to be.  Let's call it a happy accident and now it's in the shop.  :)

So here goes round two.  I found a new tutorial that helped build upon my knowledge of the original zipper bags and the first boxie tutorial I used.  I now know what I should and shouldn't do.  How I can make it my own and the best way for me to not only sew with zippers but to sew boxy pouches.

Here you can see the true difference in size.   Oopsies.  :)  I am grateful that I was made to have this opportunity to learn and grow and become one with zippers again.

Zipper or No Zipper

So I have a TON of zippers! I'm not sure where all of them came from but somehow they all made their way to my house.  I have sewn a zipper into a costume a few years ago but let's just say it didn't go that well.  So in prepping for the shop I thought that my first sewing project should be cute zipper bags! Right! 

So fun and easy! 

Wrong! Oh. My. Gosh! I swear they hated me! I even did a practice bag and it turned out great, but the ones to follow all laughed in my face.

I did three different sizes and planned to make them all in a triangular shape. I carefully picked out fabric and the different colored zippers to match.  This part is always so fun to me!  Plus I am a fabric hoarder so I didn't even have to buy any fabric!  

 I used this tutorial from Noodle Head to help me out. I even learned what a zipper foot looks like and how to use it. The one thing that the tutorial doesn't tell you is don't get too close to the zipper when sewing. When you finish the bag and do the finishing stitch around the top you quickly learn that if your original stitch is too close to the zipper it's really hard to sew it in such a way that the fabric won't get caught in the zipper.  Oopsies.  I can't even tell you how many times I had to rip a seen out and start over (or how many times a bag was flung across the room).  Or I forgot to sew in a label or I finished a bag and realized one of the teeth on the zipper broke so now I can't sell it! Ahh!

However, after all was said and done they turned out pretty cute...and flat because in the midst of frustration I forgot to make the bottoms square.  The medium and large bags have pockets inside which I am quite happy with.  I am sad to say that I officially broke up with zippers and have refused to look at them since. 

The Shop is Open!!

So for some reason we have not done a great job at keeping our blog up to daten but guess what I found...the blogger app! Woohoo! So now you will find us on here all the time!

Now that we are all pumped up about the new blogger app, lets get even more excited about our shop opening! We just launched it on June 1st. We rented a booth at Wishes and Dreams in Arlington, TX. We couldn't be more excited about the location within the shop! We love it so much! Here's a picture of us after we finished setting up. We looked a bit crazy from scrambling around all day getting everything ready. 

Shortly after opening though we realized that we have lots of friends and family that don't live nearby that like our stuff.  So with that being said, we will ship any items except furniture to you! Follow us on Instagram @thegaragingmavens to see all of our items that we have made and that are for sale!

Thank you to all of you for reading our blog and giving us support!