My whole family being short in stature has kept our tailor in business.

I had a friend say to me, “Raquel, if you know how to sew, why do you pay to have all of your pants hemmed?”

I just didn’t feel I could make them look professional like he does.

It did get me to thinking. Thinking about how much money I pay to have the whole families pants/jeans hemmed.

Ugghh… That’s a lot of green.

I’m proud to say, I studied a pair of jeans that my tailor had done and I knew I could easily do it myself. It’s just pathetic that it’s taken me this long. I was being lazy, I suppose.

Here’s a brief tutorial. Just remember if you can use scissors and sew a straight line you can do this. And literally, less than ten minutes is all it takes.

Try on your jeans, pin where you want them to be cut.

Match up the side seam and stitch the original hem to the bottom of the jeans.

Flip right side out and iron down.
Guess what! You’re done. Now put em’ on and strut your stuff.

I saw this (one like this) candy cane at a sweet little shop and loved it. The price I didn’t love. I wanted several and at twenty-five dollars a pop, it’s not gonna happen.

So, I did what I do best. Make my own. I came home, drew a pattern, ran over to Joann’s Fabric and picked up some felt.

Do you know how cheap felt is? Well, I’ll tell ya, it’s dirt cheap.

I made the bow with my handy dandy bow maker (from Joann’s for ten bucks) and added a spread of glittered fruit from the Dollar Store.

Here’s a great tip: buy a bow maker instead of purchasing bows. It will save you a small fortune, and they’re super easy to use.

Now run out and make yourself a candy cane. Come back and show me what you did. Can’t wait to see what you come up with.

Happy Crafting, lovelies…:)

All people get their challenges. Whether, it be a tough marriage, children that have been stricken with illness, financial difficulties. Heck, some of us get a little of each. If you say you haven’t, just hold your hat, because you will. My challenge right now is S.

Since S was about twelve he’s wanted Tats. This is a tough one for me. All the parenting books, advice from individuals say something like,” just don’t put a bunch of control on the kid or they’ll rebel even worse.” Tried that. Doesn’t work. If I could be Stephen Covey for the time that Ive got this challenge that would be awesome. I’m trying to remember that I’m given trying times to make me a better person. The refiners fire. Darn, that refiners fire.

I’m not for tats, but I certainly don’t hold anyone else in a bad light if they have them. Heck, my rebel side even likes some tats (shhh… don’t tell anyone.)My thing about tats is, I was always taught it’s not good to mark your body. Our bodies are Temples and we should treat them as such. What if I had gotten tats when I was young and silly, and the tat looked stupid. Or how attractive would they be when you’re a sixty-year old woman. Or how about it’s a commandment and we should follow what the Prophet says. Period!

The spirituality talks aren’t something that’s going to penetrate S right now. How many (know it all) teenagers do you know that want to hear the spiritual talk? I don’t know many. Unfortunately, I have no control over S when he’s eighteen, but for now, I have the final say. I’m trying to work with S in a loving manner. Lets see how this unfolds. Anyone have any advice out there?

While I love to write, I also love to style, create, and have some sort of project going on. I truly think that if we get caught up in the mechanics of what were doing we lose a little bit of ourselves each day.

My friend J called me one day and was so distraught about not doing anything SHE wanted to do. She calls it playing. She’s been so busy working, helping kids with homework, cooking meals, and a million other things that she hadn’t done anything for herself. She just wanted to be able to pin some craft paper on a bulletin board, or clean and rearrange her upper kitchen cabinet displays.

I know for myself that if I don’t create something, anything, even so tiny, I start to fall apart. I know myself enough to know, that I have to keep my passions alive or I will start failing at everything.

If there’s one thing to learn from, its that all quadrants http://www.franklincovey.com have to have balance. If not you’ll become like the roots of a tree. Maybe at first it can’t be seen. You’re getting by; you say to yourself. But in the meantime, underneath the surface your roots are entangling and growing by the day. And that’s not in a good way. We all know what happens when a tree gets root bound. IT DIES!

J just needed to carve out a little time for herself. I told her to pretend it’s a doctor appointment. If she were physically ill she’d make time to see a doctor. In my opinion, she was becoming mentally ill by not taking care of her creative side. Our creative/physical side is just as important as the other three roles.

If we are balancing all of our roles, and living out our passions we can be like the tree above.

All the exposure of the roots will be a beautiful, beautiful thing to look at. You’ll be able to pause, reflect and smile.

And the reason is because if you’re keeping all things in balance daily, you will see the beauty in the roots. The Intertwining roots will represent goodness. The roots will spread and spread. You will spread, your talents will spread, your love for others will spread. And on and on…

When you spend time sharpening your own saw you will then have time to help others sharpen theirs.

“All things must come to the soul from its roots, from where it is planted.”-Saint Teresa of Avila

If you’re like me and have children, you’re always signing a permission slip, forms, taking numbers, etc.

So, I wanted to have something cute to keep my pens in. I’m sure you’ve seen the well used idea of the flowers in the flower pot.

While I like the flower pot, flower pen idea, it’s not exactly my taste. So, I used feathers instead of flowers. Me likey…

P.S. I found my black/brown florist tape at Michaels.

I didn’t want the “typical” desk accessories. And if you know me, you know I don’t decorate my house in a typical way.

A long time ago I had bought quite a few silver cups and tea pitchers, and had stuffed them into my buffet.

And then it came to me.

The silver cups and pitchers are sitting on an antique piece of door frame that I picked up at a flea market.