Suite 4E

NEW Winter Design Cup Cozy

2012-12-12T13:50:00.001-08:00

Head over to the Suite4E Shop and check out my new Winter Design Cup Cozy. Perfect gift for coffee lovers and a wonderful way to reduce and reuse. Only $8. Custom orders welcome.

Happy Holidays!
Cassy

Suite Updates

2012-08-16T14:38:00.001-07:00

Right now I have a few deals going on at the Suite 4E Shop. Use coupon code "THANKS" to get 20% OFF your order. Also check out the deals below! Hurry and buy now while sale lasts! Don't forget to like the Suite 4E Facebook page for more update on new products, coupons, and sales.

My cup cozies are 20% OFF - You pick your color(s)- Only $8

My elephant Necklaces are on clearance! Only $2

My owl bracelet is 20% OFF - Only $8

Playhouse Remodel

2012-07-09T10:29:00.001-07:00

Over the weekend I decided to give my kids playhouse a serious update. I originally found this play house on Craigslist for $100. They normal sell for $300 new so I though it was a bargain, although I'm sure if I spent more time looking I could have found one for cheaper. The colors aren't the most attractive so I found some nice colored plastic spray paint for $5 a can (I used 6 cans total).

Here are my before, during, and after's:

I got the flowers and rabbit figurine from the dollar store and the door mat was only $3. The spray paint I used is Kryon plastic spray paint. They have a large selection of colors so you can make the house fit you personality easily. My only advise is not to spray paint in 110 degree weather like I did. Whoa! What was I thinking? Good thing the paint dries very quickly so it wasn't too time consuming.

All total the house was ONLY $140 and super easy to make. My kids ~~better~~ will love it for a long time to come I'm sure.

Crochet Baby Blankets

2012-06-04T19:12:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to take a second to share two crochet blankes I recently made for a couple very special little babies. Let me know what you think. If you would like the pattern let me know and I will forward you the links.

Suite Sales!

2012-04-30T11:35:00.003-07:00

I just wanted to let every one know I have a couple SALES going on at the Suite 4E Shop:

The Vintage Camera Necklaces are marked down 50% - Only $4 while supplies last.

My crochet coffee cup cozy's are 20% off now - Only $8 and they are a great way to be more environmentally friendly. Just keep one in your purse and use them instead of the cardboard sleeves you get from your favorite coffee shop. Available in a few different colors or if there is a different color you would like just let me know. I aim to please!

Hope everyone has a great Monday. xo

Pregnancy Progression Photo Shoot

2012-03-23T21:23:00.002-07:00

My beautiful sister is pregnant (with her first!) and I wanted to share some photos I took of her. We are doing some progression photos throughout her pregnancy and this is her first at 13 weeks. Isn't she gorgeous?

Wow

2012-03-12T10:46:00.002-07:00

It's been a long time since my last update, for that I apologize. There has been a lot going on in my world the past few months, including almost moving to Seattle, but then last minute deciding not to. That was fun. But it did however give me the initiative I needed to clean out a lot of junk from my house. We are still planning on moving but not out of the city limits, only into a bigger house which I'm thrilled about. Hopefully I can find a house with a pool and a bigger closet!

My little nuggets are getting bigger by the minute. My baby (who I suppose isn't a baby anymore) is turning two in two measly months! Boooo... it makes me sad how fast these years fly by. I must say its easier to enjoy this age the second time around because you know it will be gone soon.

And speaking of little nuggets my sister is pregnant with her first baby. I am over the moon excited! The baby shower is going to be bananas and I cant wait to start planning and making decorations. My bother and his wife are also pregnant, too and so is my husbands brother. So there are a lot of babies in my future and I can't wait to meet them all! And the best part is none of them are mine! woop woop.

I have also added some new jewelry to the Suite 4E Shop, including the feather necklace...

And I have sold out all of my "Wish Necklace". If you are wanting to order one I am waiting on supplies to be shipped so I can make more. I should have more available in the next couple weeks.

Crochet Camera Strap

2012-01-12T07:49:00.000-08:00

I made a crochet camera strap cover! I'm very excited about this because if you recall from this post from a while back I was on the hunt for a new camera bag. But instead I decided to get a small camera cover and crochet camera strap. Since I recently started crocheting I decided I should make my own camera strap cover, and I did. And it was super easy. Check it out...I'm proud and it's super comfortable!

If you want to try and make one I got the pattern from here. The directions are pretty easy to follow. I honestly only used the directions to see how to start the cover but after that I improvised. Make sure if you do use this pattern to put the cover on your strap about halfway through the project, then crochet the rest around the strap.

Giveaway

2011-12-27T13:15:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! I know I did. I also know my kids were way more spoiled then necessary, they are so loved by all my family. To balance the chaos of having five thousand new toys scattered around my house I made my four year old go through each and every one of his old toys on Christmas Eve and choose the ones that would be better off in the hands of a less fortunate child. It felt so good to do because, for the obvious reason, it's helping out a less fortunate family. It's also helping my kids learn to help others and to be grateful for what they have. And it feels sooo good to de-clutter! To my surprise my son was happy to do this and was excited to help out someone who doesn't have any toys to play with. It was a proud moment for me. Eureka! We have found a new holiday tradition.

Aside from the Christmas fun...

I have been such a bad blogger lately. Wrapped up in life I guess. To let my readers know that you are valued I want to do a small giveaway. I will be giving away a pair of vintage floral earrings from my shop, the Suite 4E Shop on Etsy.

Entry is simple. Make sure you are a follower of Suite 4E and leave a comment on this post. That's it.

For Extra Entries

1. Share about the giveaway on facebook and leave an additional comment here letting me know you did so

2. Tweet about this giveaway on twitter and leave an additional comment here letting me know you did so

3. Blog about this giveaway and leave an additional comment with link to your blog letting me know you did so

Winner will be selected at random on January 9th, 2012. Good Luck to All!

*Giveaway Closed*

Congrats to the winner h² fashion!

Marathon & Fundraising Progress

2011-11-21T09:22:00.001-08:00

I'm so excited to say that I completed my first half marathon! It was such an amazing experience and the location was breathtaking. It was at the Valley of Fire and is supposed to be one of the most challenging courses around because all the huge hills. It was intense. I'm not going to lie, I had to walk on the very last hill during my 12th mile because my legs were protesting. But I only walked for a few seconds before I realized walking is way harder them running after you have been running for 2 hours straight so I finished off strong. I got so emotional as I was running through the finish line thinking of how hard I worked for this, and I felt so grateful for all the beauty in my life and in this world. It was such a wonderful moment for me. Timing was not important to me at all, my goal was to just finish but I'll share my stats in case anyone is curious. My time was 2:18:59 and I placed 20 out of 49 people. I got an award at the marathon for 1st in my division but after getting home and reading the stats I realized I was the only one in my division. Ha! But hey... I was still first! right?

On a side note I did learn a few things during my marathon:

Majority of full marathon runners look homeless
Throwing your trash on the ground is OK
Snot rockets are socially acceptable
Running downhill is WAY harder then running uphill (who'd of thunk?)
Slow and steady really does win the race - Everyone who started off fast I eventually passed (for the most part)

I am going to be taking a little break from running so intensely for a while I think so I can spend time with my kids. I felt like towards the end of my training it was getting kind of hard to juggle work, kids, household stuff, and running (But that's not to say it can't be done! Where there is a will there is a way so if you have kids and are trying for a half, it's possible and its a wonderful experience!). I want to keep my love for training so I think its a good idea not to overdo a good thing so I don't make myself hate running altogether.

And for the fundraising... we are at a whopping $1045.00 and I cant wait to give that to the Make-A-Wish Foundations and brighten up a child's life. I just have to collect the monies from my lovely sponsors! So that's it for the marathon and fundraising...for now anyway. Hope you all had a great weekend!

Suite 4E Shop Update

2011-11-21T08:55:00.001-08:00

Free shipping on all items in the Suite 4E Shop through Christmas when you use the coupon code SANTA at checkout. Get a jump start on your Christmas shopping by going to www.suite4e.etsy.com.

Thoughts?

2011-11-10T14:37:00.001-08:00

Do you ever feel like blogging is bad for your self esteem? Seriously. I have considered ending my blog because sometimes I feel like I spend a lot of time looking at other blogs and comparing them to my own and it makes me feel inadequate (Don't worry though because I'm not ending my blog, at least not anytime soon). But these feeling can't be healthy! The real reason for blogging, I believe, is to find inspiration and share inspiration and uplift others and hope that you get the same uplifting feeling in return from the blogs you read. For me, sometimes, the purpose of blogging gets lost and my ego takes over. Human nature I guess?

These thoughts were sparked from an interesting post I read today from one of my favorite blogs, Sometimes Sweet, about how sometimes when blogging you talk about the best parts of your life and leave out the crappy parts and it gives a false impression to readers that your life is perfect (I do it, and I think we all do it because obviously you want to look good when putting yourself out there for others to see). Reading about seemingly perfect people all the time can really make you stop and think..."Whats wrong with me? All these people seem so perfect and I am far from it!".

But anyway, these are just random thoughts I have had on my mind about blogging lately and it was a coincidence that I read a post about it today so I felt it was post-worthy. I thought it would be nice to hear everyone's though on the subject...

Craftin' Time!

2011-11-08T14:08:00.000-08:00

I bought a can of chalkboard paint a long time ago and have been trying to find ways to use it. This, my blog friends, is one of those ways. Super easy and cheap. I bought a picture from the dollar store, which I use to have hanging up but decided it would make a much better chalk board than cheesy wall art. I simply removed the paper from the wood so that way the paint would bond. I painted a few coats and that was it! Cute and nifty right?

Half Marathon Training & Fundraising

2011-11-04T11:00:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time since I have taken a moment to blog. I'm sorry! I can only do so many things! I'm not super woman. Between work and kids and running and cleaning and crafting and just the day to day stuff I am feeling overwhelmed but I anticipate the feeling will die down a lot after my FIRST HALF MARATHON! Woop! I feel like I am trying to take on the world right now and it will be nice once the half is ran and I can relax a bit. I will keep running but I wont be in marathon training mode which will be nice. Training is going real well with the exception of a missed run here or there due to sick babies or what have you. I feel like I am ready to do this thing! A few more long runs and I'll be good to go. . . I hope.

Did I mention that I have decided to not run the Rock 'N' Roll Las Vegas Marathon? No? Well I did. Partly because I don't want to run in such a crowded chaotic half marathon for my first time and partly (well actually mainly) because I booked a flight to Oregon to see my Mom without thinking about the date of my Marathon and accidentally book it for the same day as the marathon. Gosh I am such an airhead sometimes! But oh well, life goes on. So given that, I decided to run the same race I did last year; The aMAYZing Race at the Valley of Fire (for the Hailey Mayz foundation- if you aren't familiar with this foundation I suggest you google it because they do amazing work). Last year I only did the 5k so I'm excited to came back new and improved this year. The race is on November 20th, so it's about a week earlier then the original plan but that's okay because I think I'm prepared. I'm excited to see in two weeks if all my hard work has paid off. I'm also kind of excited that the half is right before Thanksgiving so that way I can be a true fatty and indulge for the holidays guilt free! Yay!

Now on the fundraising.. meh. I'm disappointed in myself because I haven't made any more strides but I know at least I am doing some good and hope the $945 I have raised can really help someone at the Make-A-Wish Foundation. If you are interested in sponsoring me let me know... 100% of the money raised goes to the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

So that's all I have for now. Thanks for sticking with me for the past couple months of no blog posts. Don't worry though, I will be back soon and I will blog your faces off with high quality blogness.

AND By the way, don't forget to check out the "Suite 4E Shop" page on here or go to my Suite 4E Etsy page... I added a bunch more stuff to my Shop. I also made a facebook page for my shop so if you want you can head on over and "like it". Let me know what you think!

Loves!

Happy Halloween

2011-11-01T08:44:00.000-07:00

Halloween Night...Trick or Treat!

Amazing Architecture

2011-10-27T09:34:00.000-07:00

How would you like to live in a sea shell house? I think I am in love.

This amazing creation is The modern Nautilus House designed by architect Javier Senosiain of Arquitectura Organica.

My Loves

2011-10-21T15:52:00.000-07:00

This is why I love them.

And yes, they are always in nothing but their underwear at home...whats wrong with that??

Chalkboard Pumpkin

2011-10-17T18:46:00.000-07:00

These are super cute and fun to make but you will have to paint a few coats. Make sure you wait for each coat to dry thoroughly and when it is ready to be chalked up don't draw too hard

(the paint scratched off fairly easily on mine)

Thanks for sharing the idea Leslie!

Austin's Chocolate Factory

2011-10-13T12:55:00.000-07:00

Despite the stomach aches and sugar comas, all in all it was a great little birthday party. Austin was dressed up as Willy Wonka for about five minutes before he took off his costume (before I was able to snap any pictures of him!). But... he had fun and that's what counts!

Marathon & Fundraising Progress

2011-09-28T13:08:00.000-07:00

Not too much new info to share regarding my running and fund raising. I'm ashamed to say I have not raised any more money but I am proud to say that what I have raised is $945 which is a lot more then zero! I get excited to think how this money can really help a child's wish come true.

With the running, it is going amazing. I love running more and more. My runs are getting longer and longer and I am up to 8 miles. Its crazy to think how I use to feel like a 5k was such a long distance and now I can run almost triple that without getting winded. Something I have realized through my running is how you have to take care of your body! I wasn't too concerned with what I was hydrating my body with and how I use fueling it before, but now that I'm getting up there to those longer distances I can see how important it is! If I eat like poop the day before or the day of a run I feel like poop the entire run and my body suffers. The benefit of this realization is that its easier to make healthier eating choices because I know the effect of a poor choice.

So that's that. It's going good all in all. Now the wheels in my heard are turning about doing an entire marathon one day (don't get ahead of yourself Cassy, you haven't even ran your half yet!). My main dilemma with that thought is the time! Who has the time to train for one of those? Or better yet...what mother of two babies has the time to train for one? It's probably one of those thing that I need to set aside until the youngins are raised. Unless there is a secret to making time for training without compromising valuable time with the babies and quitting the day job? I'm all ears....

Hope you all are having a great week...it's halfway over!

Au Revoir

2011-09-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

I deleted my facebook. It was liberating.

UPDATE: I reactivated my account. Bahaha.

Monday Giveaway & Coupon Code!

2011-09-12T09:22:00.000-07:00

✽✽✽This giveaway is now closed. Congrats to the winner, Tara!✽✽✽

This giveaway is for the My Memories Suite Scrapbook software for FREE ($40 value), courtesy of the kind people at the My Memory Suite website. If you are not familiar with this website I suggest you familiarize yourself pronto! It's an amazing digital scrapbooking program. I fell in love with it when I found it. Keeping up with the little ones scrapbooks have become somewhat of a chore for me and this program has completely taken the hassle out of scrapbooking.

The My Memory Suite website doesn't stop at digital scrapbooking, they also have tons of creative inspiration for other digital projects such as photo books for any type of event. They have a great selection digital paper and layout designs for your digital project (not to mention the wide selection of FREEBIES and their large $1 items section) Without trying to sound to infomercial-ly...the software is amazing. You gotta try it! Here is an example of part of one of my recent projects...

Along with the giveaway, My Memory Suite is also offering a discount to all my readers of $10 off the purchase of the My Memory Suite Scrapbook software and a $10 coupon for the MyMemories.com store. To get this discount just enter the coupon code STMMMS17003 at check out.

Now...

For your chance to win the My Memory Suite Scrapbook software follow the instruction below to enter. The giveaway winner will be chosen at random on Friday the 23rd. Good luck!

Entry Instructions:

Visit the www.MyMemories.com website and come back here to leave a comment telling me which digital paper pack or layout is your favorite.

That's it! For extra entries you can also do one or all of the following. Be sure to leave a comment for each one you do:

Follow my blog either by email or bloggger friends connect (look at the side bar to the right to do so)
Follow Suite 4E on twitter. You can do so by clicking here.

Tweet or post on facebook about this giveaway.

Do a blog post about this giveaway.

All great things must end.

2011-09-09T16:40:00.000-07:00

I am currently winding down from a great vacation/visit from my mom. It was so good to spend time with her and see her spend time with her grand kids. I just get so sad that the vacation has to end! We spent part of the week just hanging out around home, cooking, swimming, shopping, and chasing after the little ones.

The highlight was when we took a quick two day one night trip to California. Our main purpose for the trip was to go to this great doll store call American Girl. This store is honestly a little girls dream come true... two stories of dolls galore, doll clothing, a doll hair salon, a restaurant made to visit with your doll. We went to the doll store for my baby girl. I didn't really think she would appreciate it because she is only one years old, but she loved it! The moment she saw the doll she wanted her eyes lit up and she wouldn't stop trying to jump out of my arms until it was bought and opened for her to hold. It was really special. We also found our way to the beach so my little boy could enjoy the California trip just as much as his sister (and her did). He loved the water! And so did I. It was just one of those days I didn't want to end (whhaa).

But now its back to reality... at least I have the pictures to reminisce on.

These are some photos from when we took Austin to the Build-A-Bear- Workshop. His choice... A Darth Vader Koala. (If you have never been there I highly reccomend it for the kiddos-so fun)

These are the photos from the "American Girl Cafe". So cute.

Love at first sight.

Out with the old...Or maybe not?!

2011-09-01T15:53:00.000-07:00

Here are a few great ideas I came across from one of my favorite magazines Real Simple. They just posted a bunch of great ideas for re-purposing old things. I love when I have the opportunity to reuse things instead of being wasteful, don't you?

Love this "Baking Sheet Memo Board". I know I have a few baking sheets that I should probably stop cooking with because they are in bad condition. Now I can us them to make a magnetic memo board! Who'd a thunk?

Re-using the plastic bags that bed linen comes in seems like a no-brainer to me (no offense) because it just seems so wasteful to throw away a perfectly good and sturdy bag complete with a zipper! If you don't already do this I highly recommend it. I use it for crafts, yarn, toys, tools... pretty much everything I need to keep organized.

This one is great for those of you with kids...

Brilliant! That's all I have to say about this one!

And this one is so simple, and convenient...

Come on ladies, I know we could all use this idea...

Half Full or Half Empty?

2011-08-29T15:56:00.000-07:00

I say half full! This is my first (well second because really my first one was so awful that I pretend it never happened) attempt at a cinemagraph... what do you think? I know its not very creative or artistic but I was just trying to get the hang of making one. Cant wait to try another!